--- title: Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics description: Here is the full transcript. canonical: https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-23T15:54:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-05T08:49:50.125Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics og:description: Here is the full transcript. og:url: https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0eb87a76dec54cb/69888c2c0b72e302506e8a52/paul-ryan2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5205 og:image:height: 2928 og:image:alt: Ryan GOP Leaders Address Press After Republican Conference Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics twitter:description: Here is the full transcript. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0eb87a76dec54cb/69888c2c0b72e302506e8a52/paul-ryan2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=30f9a8b4-fbf5-4206-9344-11e154c89fe8&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME Raw: Paul Ryan Addresses Republican Politics [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Paul Ryan Addresses Republican Politics](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KJcwL1na.m3u8) (0:55)  _Published 2016-03-23_ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 23, 2016 3:54 PM UTC by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Mar 23, 2016 3:54 PM UTC House Speaker Paul Ryan gave a speech on the state of American politics Wednesday, reflecting on some of his own past rhetoric and policy positions. Here is the full text of the speech, as prepared. --- > “” --- ## Transcript Looking around at what's taking place in politics today it is so easy to get disheartened. How many of you find yourself just shaking your head at what you see from both sides of the isle these days? It did not used to be this bad and it does not have to be this way. Now a little scepticism that is really healthy but when people distress politics they come to distressed institutions. Sometimes the da we see a politics that's degrading a politics that's going to the base the bases of our emotions of what disunifies us is not what unifies us. So here's our job. As leaders, we need to raise our gaze. And we need to raise our game, and talk about ideas. Try to unite us, not prey on people's separations or their identities. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics","datePublished":"2016-03-23T15:54:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-05T08:49:50.125Z","description":"Here is the full transcript.","url":"https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/","keywords":["Paul Ryan","2016 Election","Congress","White House","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0eb87a76dec54cb/69888c2c0b72e302506e8a52/paul-ryan2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0eb87a76dec54cb/69888c2c0b72e302506e8a52/paul-ryan2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ryan GOP Leaders Address Press After Republican Conference Meeting","caption":"Ryan GOP Leaders Address Press After Republican Conference Meeting","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/paul-ryan/","name":"Paul Ryan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/","name":"Read Paul Ryan's Speech on the State of American Politics"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Paul Ryan Addresses Republican Politics","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KJcwL1na/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-23T16:58:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KJcwL1na.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/","duration":"PT55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4269260/paul-ryan-speech-donald-trump-politics-transcript/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```