Speaker Paul Ryan is one of the rare Republicans that criticized President Donald Trump’s unprofessional comments calling Haiti and other African countries “shithole countries.”
Ryan commented on Friday on Trump’s remarks calling them “very unfortunate” and “unhelpful,” explaining that his origin comes from Irish immigrants who faced such issues when they came to America many years ago.
The Hill reports that the speaker told the press at a WisPolitics event in Milwaukee what he thought after he heard about Trump’s offensive comments.
“The first thing that came to my mind was very unfortunate, unhelpful. But you know what I thought of right away? I thought of my own family. My family, like a whole lot of people, came from Ireland on what they called coffin ships and came here and worked the railroads. The Irish were really looked down upon in those days,” Ryan continued giving details of how his predecessors became part of the U.S.
“I hear all these stories from my relatives about ‘Irish need not apply.’ [The Irish] could basically get constructions jobs, cops or firefighter jobs. And James and Catherine Ryan came over and literally worked the railroad until they had enough money to buy a farm, which happened to be outside of Janesville, Wisconsin. Then their son, my great-grandfather, started a railroad business with horse plows and it’s an earth-moving business which to this day is run by my cousins. It is a beautiful story of America, and that is a great story,” Ryan continued.
The speaker also said that such stories are what makes the U.S. great and “exceptional,” which he maintained is something to be celebrated as a strength regardless of where people come from. Ryan is for now the only member of the GOP leadership that openly criticized Trump, even though his reaction was much softer compared to that of other politicians.
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