But some of the party’s big names are still keeping Trump at arm’s length.
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House Speaker Paul Ryan, who serves as chairman of the Republican National Convention, said he is not quite ready to throw his support behind Trump. “I’m not there right now”, Ryan, a Republican, said in an interview with CNN. “Not everybody gets what you want when you negotiate in divided government”, Ryan told journalists, a nod toward the tough bargaining so far between President Barack Obama and the GOP-controlled Congress. “But I think we will complete this”.
“To defeat ISIS, you will inevitably have to work with our Arab allies”, said letter signee Roger Zakheim, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former staffer on the House Armed Services Committee. “They have been treated so badly for so long that it is about time for politicians to put them first!” he added. He joined Great America as a senior strategist and said on a super PAC conference call Wednesday.
The developments reflect the growing split in the GOP in the days since Trump’s commanding victory in the in primary, which forced his remaining Republican rivals out of the race.
A key factor for Trump in the general election will be whether he can rally the party behind him. Wyman, who faces a Democratic challenger in November, said she realizes her stance may be used against her.
But they said they were not yet supporting Trump.
“Are we about to see him devalue his female opponent and launch character attacks on her in the same vein as Donald Trump?” asked the releases aimed at McCain, Rep. Joe Heck of Nevada, and Sens.
When Trump proposed indefinitely banning Muslims from the United States in December, Ryan responded that such a move is “not who we are as a party” and in violation of the Constitution.
Trump was widely mocked for the tweet – on substance, given the offense he’s given Hispanics by vowing to deport 12 million people in the country illegally, and for the awkward wording, which left wags joking about the ingredients in that taco bowl.
The next six months are going to be fun, because even when Democrats make a truthful, substantive criticism of Donald Trump, they won’t be able to avoid having their noses shoved in their own hypocrisy.
But Ryan said Thursday that Trump needs to unite conservatives around shared values and principles before he can back the real estate mogul.
But he also said his eventual selection committee would include Carson, leading many to believe the retired neurosurgeon would also get a serious look.
Ryan and leading House Republicans will gather for one meeting, while Ryan and Trump are will meet separately. Will disaffected white people flock to the polls in record numbers to support Trump or reject Clinton?
At least two come from the private sector, including Carter Page, whom Politico described as a former investment banker with pro-Kremlin views on Russian Federation and a penchant for referencing Kanye West and Oprah Winfrey in his foreign policy blog posts. “But when they start going to different countries, and in many cases countries that devalue their currency and make it impossible for our companies to compete, that’s not going to happen, not going to happen”, he said.
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Ryan’s declaration this week that he wasn’t yet ready to embrace Trump sent shockwaves through the Republican establishment that Trump is now leaning on for help as he transitions from the primary season to a general election campaign, most likely against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
