Donald Trump lashes out at ‘Fox Board Member’ Paul Ryan after pundit on Fox News says the president had ‘disastrous debate performances’ but still won
- President Trump went after former House Speaker Paul Ryan in a Thursday tweet
- Trump suggested Ryan had something to do with one pundit on Fox News Channel criticizing the president’s past debate performances
- ‘Must be Fox Board Member Paul Ryan!’ Trump wrote, linking Ryan being on the board to the negative chatter on Fox News Channel
- Trump and Ryan and a public break-up last summer on the heels of a book coming out that suggested Ryan thought Trump knew nothing about governing
President Trump went after former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan in a Thursday tweet, placing blame on the ‘Fox Board Member’ for negative comments a pundit made about the president on Fox News Channel.
‘Could somebody at @FoxNews please explain to Trump hater A.B. Stoddard (zero talent!) and @TeamCavuto, that I won every one of my debates, from beginning to end,’ the president wrote. ‘Check the polls taken immediately after the debates. The debates got me elected. Must be Fox Board Member Paul Ryan!’
Stoddard, a writer for RealClearPolitics, appeared Thursday afternoon on ‘Your World with Neil Cavuto’ and explained that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign may not be doomed because Trump, himself, was bad on the debate stage.
President Trump went after former House Speaker Paul Ryan in a Thursday tweet, suggesting he was somehow responsible for a pundit on Fox News Channel who was critical of the president’s past debate performances
President Trump tweeted about Paul Ryan and RealClearPolitics writer A.B. Stoddard while flying to Colorado on Air Force One Thursday afternoon
President Trump (right) had a public break-up with the former speaker (left) last summer after a book came out that suggested Paul Ryan believed Trump didn’t know anything about governing
President Trump tweeted about comments made by RealClearPolitics writer A.B. Stoddard, who was explaining that Mike Bloomberg may not be toast because Trump also didn’t perform well during the Republican primary debates
‘I think that Donald Trump has disastrous debate performances,’ Stoddard said. ‘Many answers were so cringeworthy you just couldn’t even believe he was still standing on the stage – and he’s president.’
‘And so I don’t think debates kill off normal candidates who do not have a billionaire juggernaut machine,’ Stoddard continued.
She also suggested that the audience who watched the six Democratic presidential candidates debate at the Paris Theater in Las Vegas consisted of donors – who Bloomberg doesn’t need – ‘the pundit class’ and ‘Democratic primary activist voters.’
Stoddard suggested that most voters would still get to know Bloomberg through his ads, especially the ones placed online.
Trump was on his way to Colorado Springs aboard Air Force One when he sent out the tweet, with the criticism of Ryan seemingly coming out of thin air.
Ryan joined the board of Fox Corp. – the parent company of Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network – in March 2019.
Ryan had retired from Congress two months before.
Since then, Trump has been critical of the ex-speaker, especially on the heels of the release of the book ‘American Carnage’ by Politico journalist Tim Alberta.
Alberta reported on Ryan’s thoughts on Trump, including that he believed the longtime businessman ‘didn’t know anything about government.’
‘Paul Ryan, the failed V.P. candidate & former Speaker of the House, whose record of achievement was atrocious (except during my first two years as President), ultimately became a long running lame duck failure, leaving his Party in the lurch both as a fundraiser & leader,’ Trump tweeted in July 2019. ‘He had the Majority & blew it away with his poor leadership and bad timing. Never knew how to go after the Dems like they go after us.’
‘Couldn’t get him out of Congress fast enough!’ Trump exclaimed.
At the end of his show, host Neil Cavuto fact-checked Trump’s tweet.
He didn’t bring up Trump’s mention of Ryan, but he did point out that polls showed Trump didn’t win the debates.
‘When you look at polls that came out from FOX, NBC, CNN, Politico, YouGov and a host of others, the initial read was that he had failed to do well in those debates,’ Cavuto told his audience. ‘He ultimately won, but he didn’t poll well in those debates.’