Former President Donald Trump’s rivalry with politician-turned-Fox News executive Paul Ryan had become bitter before the 45th president had even left office.
Ryan, a Republican who previously served as speaker of the House for four years, joined Fox News’ board of directors in 2019. He has been an outspoken “Never Trump” leader for years and recently endorsed Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., for re-election. Rice voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
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“There were a lot of people who wanted to vote like Tom but who just didn’t have the guts to do it,” Ryan said.
Trump hit back at Ryan over the weekend and called for him to be fired from the cable news network, and implied Fox News was weak for letting him stay.
“Did anyone notice that Fox News went lame (bad!) when weak RINO Paul Ryan, who is despised in the great state of Wisconsin for being ‘a pathetic loser,’ went on the Fox board,” Trump’s Truth Social account posted on Saturday.
He complained that Fox News wouldn’t discuss his controversial claims about the 2020 presidential elections. The cable news company and competitors Newsmax and One America News network are battling billion-dollar lawsuits related to their post-election coverage.
“They won’t even talk about an obviously rigged 2020 presidential election, not even a mention,” Trump said. “That’s why our country is going to HELL – elections have consequences.”
Trump called Ryan a RINO — Republican In Name Only — and demanded Fox News remove him from their board of directors.
“Get Ryan off your board and report the News as it should be reported,” Trump said. “And stop taking negative ads from the perverts, and others!!!”
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Trump did not clarify which ads or perverts he meant.
Before his vote to impeach the 45th president, Trump had previously campaigned with Rice, who had voted 94 percent of the time in support of Trump-backed legislation. But Rice said he decided to back impeachment after seeing what he characterized as Trump’s inaction during the Jan. 6 riot.
Trump has endorsed state Rep. Russell Fry against Rice in South Carolina’s 7th district primary.
The Horn editorial team