Paul Ryan Says He Cannot Support Donald Trump for Now - The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Speaker Paul D. Ryan, the nation’s highest-ranking elected Republican, said Thursday that he was “not ready” to endorse Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Mr. Ryan, who is also chairman of the Republican National Convention, has repeatedly said he would support his party’s nominee. But he has carved out some terrain to differentiate himself, by insisting that House Republicans write their own policy agenda this year and by giving speeches that at times criticized Mr. Trump’s views. Mr. Ryan said Republicans needed a “standard-bearer” who embodied the party’s standards.
“I don’t want to underplay what he accomplished,” Mr. Ryan said in an interview on CNN with Jake Tapper. But he added, “We hope that our nominee aspires to be Lincoln and Reaganesque,” someone who “appeals to a vast majority of Americans.”
“I think conservatives want to know: Does he share our values and our principles?” he said. “There’s a lot of questions conservatives are going to want answers to.”
Less than two hours later, Mr. Trump issued a statement responding to Mr. Ryan. “I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan’s agenda,” he said. “Perhaps in the future we can work together and come to an agreement about what is best for the American people.”
Great Clash: Donald Trump vs. Paul Ryan
A look at how the de facto head of the Republican Party and the party's presumptive nominee differ on issues such as immigration, Israel and social programs.
By NATALIA V. OSIPOVA on Publish Date February 24, 2016. Photo by Jim Wilson/The New York Times; Doug Mills/The New York Times. Watch in Times Video »Mr. Ryan’s comments Thursday differed from those of other Republican lawmakers this week, who have offered tempered support for Mr. Trump.
“I have committed to supporting the nominee chosen by Republican voters, and Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee, is now on the verge of clinching that nomination,” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said in a statement this week.
Many Republicans have been expecting Mr. Ryan to spend his time this summer and fall shoring up vulnerable House Republicans, particularly those running in districts where Mr. Trump is unpopular, rather than stumping for the nominee.
Mr. Ryan’s remarks caught Republicans off guard, and were quickly interpreted by some as a permission slip for members of Congress to go their own way on Mr. Trump’s candidacy. The real estate developer is expected to be a drag on several Republican candidates in swing states and congressional districts this November, given his intense unpopularity with key voting groups, including women, Hispanics and those with college degrees.
Had Mr. Ryan issued a forceful endorsement of Mr. Trump, it would have put pressure on the Republican conference to fall in line.
Even before Mr. Ryan spoke out, Mr. Trump was confronting the prospect of defections within the Republican elite. George Bush and George W. Bush, the only two living former Republican presidents, announced on Wednesday that would not participate in or comment on the presidential campaign.
The Electoral Map Looks Challenging for Trump
Mr. Trump has been a challenge to Republican leaders throughout the 2016 campaign, and perhaps for no one more than Mr. Ryan. With his blend of populist economic policies and provocative rhetoric, Mr. Trump has rejected most of the core elements of Mr. Ryan’s policy agenda, calling for a reversal of trade deals Mr. Ryan supports and elevating programs like Social Security and Medicare, which Mr. Ryan aims to restructure.
And the animating issue of Mr. Trump’s campaign has been fiery opposition to a comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system, along the lines of a deal Mr. Ryan endorsed in 2013.
Lanhee Chen, a former policy adviser to Mitt Romney and Mr. Ryan in the 2012 campaign, said Mr. Ryan’s remarks on Thursday would help shield sympathetic Republicans from having to adopt Mr. Trump’s widely divergent philosophy of government.
Mr. Ryan has at times taken direct shots at Mr. Trump. After Mr. Trump proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, Mr. Ryan strongly disagreed. “This is not conservatism,” Mr. Ryan said in December. “What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for, and more importantly, it’s not what this country stands for.”
He also criticized Mr. Trump for declining to distance himself from the former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. “If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there can be no evasion and no games,” Mr. Ryan told reporters in early March.
<button class="button comments-button theme-speech-bubble-large" data-skip-to-para-id=""></button>“They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people’s prejudices. We appeal to their highest ideals. This is the party of Lincoln.”
“This is fundamental,” Mr. Ryan added at the time. “And if someone wants to be our nominee, they must understand this. I hope this is the last time I need to speak out on this race.”