Ryan: I Think Trump Is ‘Learning’ When It Comes To Race Issues

UNITED STATES - MAY 18: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., holds his weekly news conference in the Capitol on Thursday, May 18, 2017. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
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House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Sunday said he thinks President Donald Trump is “learning” when it comes to race issues in the United States.

“I think, like I said before, he’s learning. I know his heart’s in the right place,” Ryan said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

“How do you know that?” John Dickerson asked.

“I’ve had some candid conversations with him about this, especially during that time,” Ryan said, referring to the aftermath of a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned violent. “I’ve had some very candid conversations, and so I do really believe his heart’s in the right place.”

Asked about Trump’s ongoing attacks on NFL players and coaches who protest by kneeling during the national anthem, often to call attention to the treatment of minorities in the United States, Ryan said he thinks Trump has “got a point.”

“What I think a lot of people who are protesting on that don’t necessarily see is that other people see it as disrespecting the country, what it stands for, the flag, and the people who died to protect it,” Ryan said.

He said people “clearly” can “express themselves under the First Amendment however they want to.”

“But what so many Americans — I see this at home — see is you’re disrespecting the idea of America, that we want to make this free country a more perfect union,” Ryan said, “and that people have died and fought and survived to protect it, so they don’t see the point that they’re trying to make.”

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