Trump stunned Republicans by telling The Washington Post in an interview Tuesday that he wasn’t ready to endorse Ryan, who faces a primary contest in Wisconsin next week.
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“I like Paul, but these are frightful times for our country”, Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Ryan needed coaxing to eventually support Trump, citing his concerns about his ban on Muslims entering the US.
“I just don’t think he’s got the country’s best interests at heart”, Mayfield said. “I’m not quite there yet”. Said Ryan’s campaign spokesman Zack Roday, “Neither Speaker Ryan nor anyone on his team has ever asked for Donald Trump’s endorsement”.
Other high-profile Republicans have not said they’d vote for Clinton but they have said they won’t vote for Trump, including Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush. It is the latest rift in a party already frayed by internal dissent over its standard bearer, seen in stark relief at the convention where McCain was among high-level party members who essentially snubbed Trump by choosing not to attend.
Trump’s refusal to back the incumbents is a breach of political decorum that comes just two weeks after a convention created to showcase party unity. Trump also refused to endorse Sen.
After Trump’s rebuke of Ryan and McCain was made public yesterday, Pence met with McCain before a rally in Phoenix.
Now he’s also defending Republicans who have sparred with the GOP presidential nominee, particularly Arizona Sen.
Moreover, while there is virtually no constituency either within or outside of the Republican Party for Paul Ryan’s ideas, there is massive support within the GOP for Trump’s mix of racism and religious bigotry. Ryan is hoping to avoid a surprise defeat like Eric Cantor suffered in 2014, when the House majority leader lost a Republican primary to a little-known tea party challenger Dave Brat. The primary for Ryan’s House seat in Wisconsin is next week and Ayotte’s primary in New Hampshire is next month. He went further to ask the Republican Leaders to withdraw their support for Donald Trump. I know she’s given me no support – zero support – and yet I’m leading her in the polls.
Over the past five days, a series of wounds Trump has inflicted on his own campaign increasingly appear to be fatal. The Wisconsin GOP primary is August 9.
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Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called Donald Trump Tuesday to express frustration with the presidential candidate’s campaign and how he has handled his feud with the family of a slain Muslim American soldier, according to several party sources familiar with the conversation. “‘I disagree with any statement issued by anybody that doesn’t show full respect and full honor to those Gold Star parents and the sacrifice of their loved ones.’ Trump’s criticism of Khizr Khan and Ghazala Khan, who took the stage at last week’s Democratic convention, sparked growing concern and dismay from Republican lawmakers”.
