Paul Ryan Reveals If He's Running For President

No means no, everyone. The rumor that House Speaker Paul Ryan will run for president was officially put to rest by his announcement Tuesday. In a press conference for the Republican National Committee, Ryan said, "I want to put this to rest once and for all ... We have too much work to do in the House to allow this speculation to swirl. I do not want, nor will I accept, the nomination for our party." Ryan first announced that he wouldn’t run more than a year ago, but many believed he was playing hard-to-get and would eventually concede to a nomination. Now the speculation should be over.

Ryan's recent actions only fueled buzz that he would run. Last week, he released a campaign-style video called “Politics These Days,” which outlined his platform for his “Confident America” initiative. Earlier this month, he took a highly publicized trip to Israel. And last month, in what some people saw as an attempt to make his platform more palatable, Ryan apologized for calling the poor "takers" in the past. "I shouldn’t castigate a large group of Americans to make a point," he said (many thought that was an indirect jab at Donald Trump).

“There is no question that Ryan is operating in a very ambitious way,” Peter Wehner, former director of the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives under President George W. Bush, recently told The New York Times. "That is unusual for a speaker in an election year." Ryan had denied he'd take the role of House Speaker before finally accepting it, which also raised a false flag for his imaginary 2016 campaign.

For #NeverTrump Republicans holding out for Ryan, it looks like they'll have to search elsewhere for a new alternate nominee to the frontrunner.