Paul Ryan Focuses on GOP Agenda, Not Donald Trump
“Liberal progressivism is not government for the people," Ryan said Friday.
— -- House Speaker Paul Ryan outlined the GOP governing agenda and laid out the case against Hillary Clinton and "liberal progressivism" Friday in a speech to college Republicans, all but ignoring the controversies swirling around Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and the turmoil within the his own party.
“Liberal progressivism is not government for the people. It is government for the elites," Ryan said Friday in Madison, a power center for Wisconsin Democrats.
"You see, when Hillary Clinton says we are ‘stronger together,’ what she means is we are stronger if we are all subject to the state. What she means is we are stronger if we give up our ties of responsibility to one another and hand all of that over to government," he continued.
The Wisconsin Republican made only glancing references to the state of the presidential race and his party's presidential nominee, who is batting back sexual harassment allegations after a Washington Post report revealed a 2005 video of Trump talking about groping women. Trump has since apologized for the remarks.
"The kind of election we really want to have is not the one we're necessarily having right now," he said. "The one we really want to have is saying 'We've got ideas and solutions let's go win this so we earn the right to do it.'"
Asked by one college student how to promote conservative ideas on liberal college campuses, Ryan advised the audience not to "talk about the latest Twitter storm from somebody," an indirect reference to Donald Trump. "Talk about what you believe and why you believe it."
Ryan did not mention Trump during his speech, or receive any questions about Trump for the college students, which were submitted and selected by conservative radio host Vicki McKenna.
"The students submitted questions and Paul answered as many as he was able to in the time allotted. We didn't filter out any questions about Trump, no," Zack Roday, Ryan's spokesperson, said in a statement.
The session comes a day after he addressed business leaders in Brookfield, Wisconsin, assuring them, for instance, that Republicans are running on a conservative policy agenda with alternatives to Obamacare.
The speaker's office also announced today that Ryan's national political operation has raised more than $48 million in 2016; $15.4 million of it in the third quarter.