The last-minute speech set off rampant speculation on Twitter. “I think Paul Ryan just launched his 2020 campaign,” tweeted Chicago consultant @johnvmoore. “2020 run?” added Bloomberg’s Steve Dennis.

“Ryan has slowly, carefully been pitching himself as the Republican Party’s anti-Trump,” wrote one Washington Post blogger, “and Wednesday’s speech sounded like he hoped to emerge as an alternative to a party burned by Trump for 2020.”

Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong, the former national press secretary for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) failed presidential campaign, declined to comment for this story.

But other GOP sources close to Ryan said the Speaker harbors no presidential ambitions and has not spent any time discussing a future White House bid with House colleagues or aides. Ryan’s launched his “Confident America” campaign this year to give House Republicans a conservative, ideas-focused policy platform to run on in 2016.