Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday declared House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) a “saboteur” who should be forced from office.
Speaking to the Washington Post in the spin room after the final presidential debate, the devoted Donald Trump ally hinted that the intra-party war between far-right conservatives and their more moderate counterparts would continue regardless of who wins the presidential race on November 8.
Hannity told the Post that Ryan, who has offered only tepid support for the Republican nominee during the 2016 race, “needed to be called out and replaced.”
Trump amped up his attacks on the speaker in the final stretch of the race after Ryan said he would no longer defend him over a leaked recording in which Trump can be heard bragging about predatory behavior towards women. On Twitter and at rallies, the real estate mogul has said Ryan, who has not withdrawn his endorsement, “doesn’t know how to win” and is a “weak and ineffective” leader. Trump’s supporters have taken up the call, booing mentions of Ryan’s name at rallies.
Hannity, who has championed the real estate mogul on air for months and called current Republican leadership “weak, feckless, timid, spineless,” told the Post’s Robert Costa that he would like to see Ryan replaced with a hard-line member of the House Freedom Caucus.
Some names he floated included Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), architect of the 2013 government shutdown, and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who has called Hillary Clinton “mentally impaired” and warned last year that the U.S. military might be trying to invade the Lone Star State.
HANNITY, who is close to Trump inner circle, tells @washingtonpost that he’d like Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows or Gohmert to run against Ryan
— Robert Costa (@costareports) October 20, 2016