Paul Ryan Says He Has The Honor Of "Preventing" The President At SOTU

Admittedly, Ryan had to be nervous. Randy Bryce, the ironworker and union organizer who is going after Ryan's job, was in attendance in the House of Congress as the guest of Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan. It might be even harder to perform when a decent amount of individuals in the audience, including people watching on their screens at home, want you to fail. So when Ryan slipped up and said he was "preventing" the president, rather than "presenting" him, it was an understandable slip.

But that doesn't mean people can't laugh at it now, does it? I mean, come on. This is the internet, people. Twitter was aflame with great jokes about Ryan's small slip.

Paul Ryan Accidentally Says He Has The Honor Of "Preventing" The President At SOTU, & Twitter Loved It.

Tuesday saw the first State of the Union address of President Donald Trump. It was naturally an auspicious occasion, with the entire country glued to their screens to find out what the president had to say about the arguably difficult last year. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan had the honor of introducing the president and, well, he didn't totally nail it. Ryan accidentally said he was "preventing" the president at the State of the Union, but have no fear: Twitter couldn't have loved it more.

During Trump's State of the Union address before Congress on Tuesday, the president invoked the name of God more than once. While Ryan, a devout Christian, sat quietly behind Trump during most of his speech, politely clapping while looking preternaturally serene, Ryan did eventually become quite animated. When Trump brought up "In God We Trust," a topic clearly near and dear to Ryan's heart. At one point, Ryan pointed up at the sky (presumably to God), as though he needed to instruct the audience where his favorite guy was residing.

Some savvy Twitter users wondered if this was something of a Freudian slip; after all, Ryan and Trump have notably struggled to come to terms with their power dynamics in the past. As Speaker of the House, Ryan has a significant amount of power... could he want a little more? Does he actually want to "prevent" the president?

Who is Paul Ryan?

Paul Davis Ryan Jr. (born January 29, 1970) is an American politician serving as the 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2015. He was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States, running alongside former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

Ryan also has been the U.S. Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district since 1999. He was previously chair of the House Ways and Means Committee from January 3 to October 29, 2015, and, before that, chair of the House Budget Committee from 2011 to 2015. Ryan, together with Democratic Party U.S. Senator Patty Murray, negotiated the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013.

On October 29, 2015, Ryan was elected to replace John Boehner as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives following Boehner's retirement, becoming the first person from Wisconsin to hold this position. He named lobbyist John David Hoppe as his Chief of Staff.