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Paul Ryan Blasts Trump's Judge Comment: 'Textbook Definition of a Racist Comment
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 26, 2016, as the Congress prepares to leave for the week-long Memorial Day recess. Ryan is still holding out on endorsing GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. He shot down rumors that an endorsement was imminent. "I don't have a timeline in my mind and I have not made a decision and nothing's changed from that perspective," he said. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Paul Ryan Blasts Trump's Judge Comment: 'Textbook Definition of a Racist Comment

WASHINGTON (TheBlaze/AP) -- House Speaker Paul Ryan says Donald Trump's comment on judge Gonzalo Curiel, an American born in Indiana of Mexican heritage, is the "textbook definition of a racist comment."

"Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment," Ryan said at a Washington, D.C., press conference on Tuesday. "I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable."

But Ryan went on to say that just because he disagrees with Trump's comments doesn't mean he is withdrawing his support for the presumptive Republican nominee.

"I believe we have more in common on the policy issues of the day and we have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than we do with [Hillary Clinton]," Ryan added.

Meanwhile, CNN commentator and Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord retaliated by calling Ryan's comments "racist."

"Speaker Ryan has apparently switched positions and is now supporting identity politics, which is racist," Lord said.

Jessica Mackler, president of the progressive organization American Bridge, also responded to Ryan's comments, saying that she will "never understand how [he] can both acknowledge Trump is racist and still support him."

"It's been clear for a lot longer than this weekend that Trump is racist but the fact that Republicans are explicitly and openly supporting a racist tells you everything you need to know about the Republican Party," Mackler said.

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