“The person who wins 1,237 delegates by the Republican electorate wins the primary," Paul Ryan said. | Getty Ryan defends Trump endorsement 'He won fair and square.'

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the reason he's sticking by Donald Trump despite his “distracting” antics is simple: Because he won.

“He won fair and square,” Ryan (R-Wis.) told Wisconsin radio host Jay Weber Thursday when asked why he’s still backing Trump.


“The person who wins 1,237 delegates by the Republican electorate wins the primary. It’s just that simple,” Ryan added.

Support for Trump has been shrinking on Capitol Hill after his string of attacks on a federal judge’s Mexican heritage, which Ryan earlier this week called the “textbook definition” of a racist comment.

But Ryan said despite Trump’s many flaws, he’s still the best choice to implement the ambitious GOP policy agenda House Republicans are rolling out over the next few weeks.

“Do I think that these kind of antics are distracting and give us a campaign that we cannot be part of? Yeah,” Ryan said.

“But, I think and hope and believe that he can fix this to the point where he can hopefully run a campaign that we can all be proud of.”