--- title: Paul Ryan on Donald Trump: 'You Can't Make This Up' description: Asked about Donald Trump's response to the Orlando massacre, House Speaker Paul Ryan expressed disbelief. canonical: https://time.com/4371758/paul-ryan-donald-trump-be-quiet/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-16T17:11:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:26.599Z article:section: Politics og:title: Paul Ryan Expresses Exasperation Over Trump Comments og:description: "You can't make this up sometimes." og:url: https://time.com/4371758/paul-ryan-donald-trump-be-quiet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt317ef4cb3183fee2/6988982a656a3fd252bcbf1f/gettyimages-540149768.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: House Speaker Paul Ryan And House GOP Leadership Address The Media After Party Conference Meeting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paul Ryan Expresses Exasperation Over Trump Comments twitter:description: "You can't make this up sometimes." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt317ef4cb3183fee2/6988982a656a3fd252bcbf1f/gettyimages-540149768.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paul Ryan on Donald Trump: 'You Can't Make This Up Sometimes' ## Video: Trump Pushes Muslim Ban After Orlando Shooting [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Pushes Muslim Ban After Orlando Shooting](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4evjNBKP.m3u8) (0:56)  _Published 2016-06-13_ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jun 16, 2016 5:11 PM UTC  Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) speaks with members of the House Republican leadership following their weekly policy meeting June 14, 2016 in Washington, DC. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) speaks with members of the House Republican leadership following their weekly policy meeting June 14, 2016 in Washington, DC.Win McNamee—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Jun 16, 2016 5:11 PM UTC Peppered by questions from reporters in the days after Donald Trump’s controversial response to the Orlando massacre, [House Speaker Paul Ryan](http://time.com/4344579/paul-ryan-betting-man-donald-trump/?iid=sr-link3) expressed disbelief on Thursday morning. “You can’t make this up sometimes,” [Ryan](http://time.com/4327668/paul-ryan-donald-trump-meeting/?iid=sr-link1) said in response to a reporter’s question about [Trump’s recent comment](http://time.com/4361868/donald-trump-paul-ryan-mitch-mcconnell-republicans/?iid=sr-link7) that top Republicans “just please be quiet.” “We represent a separate but _equal_ branch of government,” Ryan went on, referring to Congress. “We spent the morning talking about how valuable the separation of powers is and how we’re trying to restore the entire principle of self-government, of government by consent. We will lose our freedoms in this country including all the Bill of Rights if we don’t robustly defend the separation of powers.” Trump said on Wednesday that top Republican need to stop weighing in on his campaign. “Don’t talk. Please be quiet. Just be quiet to the leaders because they have to get tougher, they have to get sharper, they have to get smarter.” After the Orlando shooting, Trump [insinuated that Obama may have somehow been involved in the terrorist attack](http://time.com/4366278/orlando-shooting-donald-trump-president-obama/), [reiterated his proposed ban on all Muslim immigration to the country](http://time.com/4366912/donald-trump-orlando-shooting-muslim-ban/) and [suggested American Muslims knew about the attack beforehand](http://time.com/4367120/orlando-shooting-donald-trump-transcript/). Earlier this month, he said that an Indiana-born judge could not objectively rule on his Trump University case [because of his Mexican heritage](http://time.com/4351757/donald-trump-judge-unseals-trump-university-documents/). Republican congressional leaders have spoken out against Trump, calling his comments divisive. Trump has expressed exasperation with the members of his party. Ryan previously said that Trump’s comments about the judge were the [“textbook definition of racism.”](http://time.com/4359768/paul-ryan-donald-trump-judge-curiel-racism/) When asked whether he would revoke his endorsement of Trump, Ryan demurred. “That’s not my plan, I don’t have a plan to do that. Look, we’re going to agree to disagree on some things, that’s just the way things work.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4371758/paul-ryan-donald-trump-be-quiet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4371758/paul-ryan-donald-trump-be-quiet/"},"headline":"Paul Ryan on Donald Trump: 'You Can't Make This Up Sometimes'","datePublished":"2016-06-16T17:11:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:26.599Z","description":"Asked about Donald Trump's response to the Orlando massacre, House Speaker Paul Ryan expressed disbelief.","url":"https://time.com/4371758/paul-ryan-donald-trump-be-quiet/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election topic","Congress","Paul Ryan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt317ef4cb3183fee2/6988982a656a3fd252bcbf1f/gettyimages-540149768.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt317ef4cb3183fee2/6988982a656a3fd252bcbf1f/gettyimages-540149768.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"House Speaker Paul Ryan And House GOP Leadership Address The Media After Party Conference Meeting","caption":"House Speaker Paul Ryan And House GOP Leadership Address The Media After Party Conference Meeting","creditText":"Win McNamee—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/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4371758/paul-ryan-donald-trump-be-quiet/","name":"Paul Ryan on Donald Trump: 'You Can't Make This Up Sometimes'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump Pushes Muslim Ban After Orlando Shooting","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4evjNBKP/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-06-13T20:34:07.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4evjNBKP.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4371758/paul-ryan-donald-trump-be-quiet/","duration":"PT56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4371758/paul-ryan-donald-trump-be-quiet/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```