In response to former House Speaker Paul Ryan’s speech today at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Terry Schilling, president of American Principles Project, released the following statement:

“Paul Ryan is a nice family man, but he was a wholly incompetent steward of the conservative movement and, more broadly, the national interest. Trained to appease others and influenced by globalist interests, he spent more time furnishing a slick coif than a solid backbone. To avoid conflict at all cost, he ceaselessly ceded ground to the Left, regularly calling for unilateral truces on cultural, economic, and family issues. Without exaggeration, much of the progressive radicalism that our country is now forced to confront is a result of Ryan’s congressional cowardice.

“Ryan was uninterested in recognizing—let alone fighting—identity politics, moral nihilism, and the resurgence of socialism, even when multitudes of conservatives were shouting in his ear to pay attention. During Ryan’s political tenure, America was debating the merits of gay marriage. Today, we have transgender toddlers. Ryan’s economic agenda, which entailed slashing social programs for retirees to further enrich corporations, was craven and disastrous for the middle class.

“The fact that Paul Ryan is trying to make a comeback today proves once and for all that his aloofness was not a sporadic spasm, but rather an indelible characteristic. There hasn’t been an attempted rally this pathetic in Washington since Michael Jordan came out of retirement to play for the Wizards. Paul, American conservatism moved on from you years ago. Please, finally get the message, and just enjoy retirement.”

To schedule an interview with Terry Schilling, contact Paul Dupont at (o) 202-503-2010 or pdupont@americanprinciplesproject.org.