First Read: “House Speaker Paul Ryan’s decision yesterday to shut the door on rescuing the Republican Party by accepting its presidential nomination if there’s a contested convention was good news for Ted Cruz and John Kasich (because it solidified their status as the anti-Trump alternatives). It was good news for someone like Marco Rubio or Scott Walker or Rick Perry (because Ryan encouraged Republican delegates to nominate only those ‘who actually ran for the job,’ which would include candidates who dropped out of the ’16 contest). And it was bad news for establishment Republicans who’ve been pining for a presidential alternative beyond Trump/Cruz/Kasich.”
“But the biggest beneficiary of Ryan’s announcement yesterday was Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. Why? Because Ryan is really the only major Republican out there who could be able to unite the party if there’s a contested convention, especially with Trump’s warning that ‘I think you’d have riots’ if such a convention were to result in anyone but him. The white knight has now been removed from the 2016 board. And the GOP’s choices are essentially 1): Trump, 2) Cruz — with Trump and his supporters not going away quietly under that scenario; or 3) someone else who isn’t Paul Ryan.”
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