Rep. Jim Bridenstine, a member of the Freedom Caucus, said he won't support Paul Ryan because Ryan doesn't support Donald Trump. | AP Photo Freedom Caucus member won't support Ryan after Trump criticism

House Speaker’s Paul Ryan’s decision to all but abandon Donald Trump with a month left before November’s presidential election has cost him the support of at least one conservative Republican congressman.

“Given the stakes of this election, if Paul Ryan isn't for Trump, then I'm not for Paul Ryan,” Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, posted to Twitter Wednesday morning. It is the first public defection from the speaker since Ryan’s announcement Monday on a conference call with GOP lawmakers that he would no longer defend Trump, nor would he campaign with him before Election Day.


“You all need to do what’s best for you in your district,” Ryan told House Republicans on Monday’s call.

While Ryan may be the most prominent Republican to back away from Trump, he is far from the only one. In the wake of the Manhattan billionaire’s most recent scandal, a recording from 2005 in which he can be heard making vulgar and sexually aggressive comments about women, a wave of Republicans have abandoned from Trump. That list includes Sens. John McCain, John Thune and Kelly Ayotte, Reps. Jason Chaffetz and Mia Love as well as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Bridenstine opposed Ryan and supported Florida Rep. Daniel Webster for speaker last fall when the House Republican conference voted to elect a replacement for the retiring John Boehner.

But the Oklahoma congressman backed Ryan during the official — and more important — vote on the House floor.