In a speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Friday, the Republican nominee endorsed Ryan for re-election, along with two other prominent party officials he said he could not support as recently as Tuesday: Arizona Sen.
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The timing is unusual.
Trump struck a rare conciliatory tone at a Wisconsin rally on Friday, imploring his party to unite behind him and opening a full-throttle attack on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The move is seen as a reversal from Trump’s comments Tuesday in which he praised Nehlen and refused to endorse Ryan in the Wisconsin congressional primary.
In Wisconsin, a battleground state where Trump lost a primary decisively to Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and endured unrelenting criticism from popular local conservative radio hosts, the speaker of the state House of Representatives greeted Trump with an open letter to fellow Republicans, saying, “We are Ryan Republicans here in Wisconsin, not Trump Republicans”.
Donald Trump has extended his streak of days during which he has declined to say alarming things and has even started to demonstrate that he is learning to play well with others. Reading from a sheet of paper, Trump endorsed not only Ryan and McCain, but also embattled Sen. John McCain and Kelly Ayotte – after initially declining to do so and in the case of McCain, assailing him repeatedly.
Trump’s endorsement of McCain, Ayotte and Ryan may help defuse the anger from establishment Republicans caused by his initial refusal to endorse them. “Because I feel I have to, in order to defend Republicans, and our principles, so that people don’t make the mistake of thinking we think like that”.
“We will have disagreements”, Trump said. “Very important. We’ll work together”, he said. “And you know that, and that’s how I’ve always felt”.
“We don’t win at any level with anything and as a unified party, we will lead our country to unity, as well”, he added.
Trump has not had a positive relationship with McCain in the past, criticizing him previous year for having been captured after his plane was shot down in the Vietnam War.
Just like any member of the public invited to the Trump rally, I also had a ticket I registered for online which granted me access to the rally.
Trish Tivo, a Trump supporter, said the controversies Trump has faced during this election cycle have not fazed her.
Nehlen found himself in the nation’s spotlight earlier this week, when Donald Trump initially hesitated to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan in his re-election bid. A day earlier, Clinton, speaking before a convention of black and Latino journalists, said she had offered a “short-circuited” response in a Fox News interview last weekend.
But as the highest-ranking Republican in Washington, Ryan is hugely influential – something Trump has clearly recognised.
During the same week, Trump was harshly criticized by President Barack Obama who doubted the candidate’s common sense and ability to play by the rules.
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Whether or not an intervention of any type occurred, Trump certainly flip-flopped on the trio of lawmakers and – in quite a rare moment – did something he appeared to very much not want to do by endorsing them..
