A new Vox Populi Polling survey shows Speaker Paul Ryan (R) is leading Republican primary challenger Paul Nehlen (R) by 73 points, 80% to 7%, and enjoys an almost 20 point lead over a generic Democratic candidate.
Ryan Ready to Endorse Trump
“House Speaker Paul Ryan has begun telling confidants that he wants to end his standoff with Donald Trump in part because he’s worried the split has sharpened divisions in the Republican Party,” Bloomberg reports.
“Ryan aides say nothing has been decided about a possible Trump endorsement. But Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, told a small group of Republican lawmakers Thursday that he expects Ryan to endorse the party’s nominee as early as this week.”
Ryan Agrees with Poll That Shows Voters Trust Trump
Ryan Goes Slow with Trump
The Lid: “We don’t know exactly how all this will play out yet, but it’s fair to say that Ryan’s slow-walking to a Trump endorsement could provide him some cover later on if Trump goes down in flames and Ryan wants to pick up the pieces. ”
“Bottom line: Paul Ryan isn’t stepping through the endorsement door yet, but he also certainly doesn’t seem to be positioning himself to lead one side of an intra-party war that would last until November. Plus, when even James Baker and Lindsey Graham are making at least half-hearted movements towards workable relationships with Trump, the name of the game here seems to be putting Humpty-Dumpty back together again when it comes to the fractured GOP.”
Tension Inside the House GOP Over Trump
First Read: “According to a source inside yesterday’s House GOP conference meeting, six House members stood up during the open mic period to express their frustration with Ryan’s comments about not being able to support Donald Trump as the nominee at this point. Members said they were blindsided by the speaker’s announcement and that it puts them in a hard spot in their districts; they are feeling pressure to choose between the speaker and the presumptive nominee. A couple other members, however, stood up and voiced support for Ryan’s comments. At least one of these members is up for reelection in a district where having Trump at the top of the ticket would be damaging. The source says the conference is definitely divided.”
Which Trump Does Ryan Prefer?
Rick Klein: “Donald Trump said he would do this, just about in as many words. For months, as he rolled out hard-edged, no-nonsense policies, Trump said that ‘everything is negotiable,’ and even, ‘I’m capable of changing to anything I want to change to.’ Here he is now, barely a week after his final rivals dropped out, waffling and adjusting on the minimum wage, entitlement reform, tax policy, and even the Muslim ban.”
“The immediate question for Paul Ryan is which Trump he would prefer. The presumptive nominee isn’t moving in a particularly consistent policy direction, much less one Ryan would endorse. It’s hard to see Ryan coming on board without some policy movement he’s comfortable with. But it’s also hard to see Ryan comfortable with as much movement as Trump has demonstrated just in the past eight days.”
Extra Bonus Quote of the Day
“We shouldn’t just pretend our party is unified when we know it is not. We can’t fake it, we can’t pretend. We have to actually unify.”
— Speaker Paul Ryan, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Paul Ryan’s Predicament
Politico: “So here’s the House speaker’s play, according to multiple people in Ryan’s inner circle: he wants Trump to understand where he is coming from. Ryan wants to try to steer the party’s national political dialogue — as embodied by Trump’s barbed rhetoric — in a better direction. He wants an open line of communication between his operation and Trump’s. He isn’t going to try to extract policy concessions from Trump — he understands they are unlikely to ever agree on trade or immigration — but he wants some recognition that Ryan has 247 members of the House that need to be re-elected, and they can’t do so while wincing through the general election in November.”
“It might work, it might not. Ryan could endorse Trump at some point — but there are no guarantees. His posture: at least I tried to make things work.”
Inside Ryan’s Power Play
New York Times: “Mr. Ryan’s refusal to endorse Mr. Trump was a reminder of a lost Washington art — not just the willingness to take on the political opposition, but a readiness to publicly challenge the leader of one’s own party.”
“If sustained, it would break dramatically with the recent pattern of lawmakers’ regularly deferring to a president of their own party and ceding power from Capitol Hill to the White House. In raising concerns about Mr. Trump, Mr. Ryan seemed to acknowledge the potential for Republican-on-Republican clashes should Mr. Trump prevail in November. And the fights could come not just on discrete policy issues like taxes and trade, but also over Mr. Trump’s very interpretation of the powers of the presidency.”
Carson Seeks Pre-Meeting with Ryan
“A top emissary for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has asked to meet privately with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) this week in advance of Trump’s visit to Washington on Thursday,” the Washington Post reports.
“Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who has become one of Trump’s most trusted allies, reached out Monday to Ryan’s political advisers to request a private session with the speaker.”
Why Paul Ryan Might Want to Lose the House
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Ryan Would Not Back a Third Party
Speaker Paul Ryan told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that a third-party or independent bid by conservatives in 2016 “would be a disaster for our party. I have communicated that to plenty of people.”
He also said he’s committed to finding unity among Republicans when he meets with Donald Trump on Thursday.
Said Ryan: “We have right now a disunified Republican Party. We shouldn’t sweep it under the rug without addressing it. That would be to our detriment in the fall.”
Ryan Will Step Down as Chairman If Trump Wants
Speaker Paul Ryan said that he would step down as chairman of the Republican Party’s July convention if presumptive nominee Donald Trump asked him to do so, Reuters reports.
Said Ryan: “I’ll do whatever he asks me to do.”
GOP Rift Between Trump and Ryan Widens
“The rift in the Republican Party grew deeper on Sunday and threatened to upset the July convention as Donald Trump refused to rule out blocking Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, from serving as the convention’s chairman,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump’s warning was his latest affront to Republicans who have urged him to adopt a more cooperative and unifying tone. And it amounted to an extraordinary escalation in tensions between the party’s presumptive nominee and its highest-ranking officeholder.”
Trump Would Consider Removing Ryan
Donald Trump said he would not rule out an effort to remove Speaker Paul Ryan as chairman of the Republican National Convention if he did not endorse Trump’s candidacy, the New York Times reports.
Trump said there could be consequences if Ryan withheld his support: “I will give you a very solid answer, if that happens, about one minute after that happens, O.K.? There’s no reason to give it right now, but I’ll be very quick with the answer.”
Palin Will Work to Defeat Ryan in Primary
Sarah Palin told CNN that she will work to defeat House Speaker Paul Ryan by backing his primary opponent in Wisconsin.
Said Palin: “I think Paul Ryan is soon to be ‘Cantored,’ as in Eric Cantor. His political career is over but for a miracle because he has so disrespected the will of the people, and as the leader of the GOP, the convention, certainly he is to remain neutral, and for him to already come out and say who he will not support is not a wise decision of his.”
Trump Says He Was Blindsided by Ryan
Donald Trump told NBC News that he was surprised that House Speaker Paul Ryan said he wasn’t ready to endorse him for president.
Said Trump: “I like Paul Ryan. I think he’s a very good guy. He called me three weeks ago, and he was so supportive. It was amazing. And I never thought a thing like this. I got blindsided by this.”
He added: “And then all of a sudden, he gets on and he does this number. So I’m not exactly sure what he has in mind. But that’s okay.”
Trump Will Meet with Ryan Next Week
Reince Priebus says he arranged a meeting between Donald Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan to “work through some issues,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “I told Reince that I thought it was totally inappropriate what Paul Ryan said and thought it was good for me politically. But Reince feels, and I’m okay with that, that we should meet before we go our separate ways. So I guess the meeting will take place and who knows what will happen.”
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