It’s been a little less than a week since Trump effectively secured the nomination following a decisive win in Indiana’s Republican primary, but his relationships among lawmakers and leaders of his own party remain rocky at best. She and her husband Jim say they were supporters of one of those former rivals, Texas Sen.
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Ryan defended his stance anew Tuesday, insisting that he was just being honest in saying Trump had more work to do to show he could unify the party after alienating numerous voters including women, Hispanics and many conservatives.
“Six months from Election Day, the presidential races between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the three most crucial states, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, are too close to call”, Brown said.
“The important thing to remember is the national titular head of the party is the nominee of the Republican Party”, Manafort said.
Ryan, 46, a conservative congressman since 1999 who ran unsuccessfully for vice president in 2012, and Trump, a 69-year-old billionaire real estate developer, are very different Republicans who do not see eye to eye on many things, from immigration to trade.
The two men represent vastly different visions for the Republican Party, and whether they can come together may foretell whether the GOP will heal itself after a bruising primary season or face irrevocable rupture. “I really don’t know him”, Mr. Ryan said.
“I don’t go into Thursday with huge expectations other than just to have the kind of conversation that we need to start having so that we are getting ourselves on the same page as a party”, Ryan said in an interview Tuesday morning with Janesville radio host Stan Milam of WBEL-AM radio.
But Ryan said Wednesday these differences are not at issue, because “this is a big-tent party”.
Trump’s allies and advisers echoed his contention that he can claim the White House with or without leading congressional Republicans, who continue to express reservations about his tone and inconsistent policy prescriptions.
Still, nearly two in three Republican-leaning voters now view Trump favourably, compared with 31 per cent who view him unfavourably, according to a national Gallup Poll taken last week. “We just don’t know each other”. “I would say Paul for the time being and maybe for a long time”, he said.
While he does have concerns with some of the controversial comments Trump has made – such as about women and a ban on Muslims – he doesn’t think his voters will confuse him with Trump.
“If Republicans want to win, and we do, then we’ve got to change the approach because we’re not going to win taking these positions”, said Flake, R-Ariz.
“I think this is a time for unity”. I’m going to finish my job here.
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Ben Carson is another former opponent who’s now backing Trump and positioning himself as an emissary; Ryan’s office confirmed that Carson has requested to meet with Ryan ahead of the Trump meeting, a move first reported in The Washington Post.
