Capping a week of backbiting between Donald Trump and Republican leaders, the GOP presidential nominee on Friday sought to end a high-stakes impasse by delivering a formal endorsement of U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s reelection bid after initially refusing to do so.
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The timing is unusual.
Mr. Ryan, who has been endorsed by Mr. Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, Mike Pence, is viewed by establishment Republicans as a possible presidential candidate in the future.
The tycoon told The Washington Post in an interview earlier this week that he was “just not quite there yet” when it came to backing the House Speaker – echoing the rhetoric used by Mr Ryan in relation to the party’s presidential nominee. Trump had previously tweeted out thanks to the congressional Republican leader’s primary challenger, Paul Nehlen.
Morell said that as Russian President Vladimir Putin “played upon Mr Trump’s vulnerabilities by complimenting him”.
“I also fully support and endorse Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, a state I truly love”.
Trump’s move to endorse Ryan, McCain and Ayotte is an attempt to put the controversy and feuds behind him.
I was happy to attend the rally, even in the face of reports that Mr. Trump would endorse Speaker Ryan, because I believe Mr. Trump understands that we must have all hands on deck in order to roll back 8 years of Barack Obama and prevent Hillary from continuing his legacy. “And we may disagree on a couple of things, but mostly we agree, and we’re going to get it done and we’re going to do a lot of wonderful things”, he added. Very important. We’ll work together.
Perhaps signaling that he was in a forgiving and unifying mood, Trump on Friday morning issued a rare admission of an error, explaining on Twitter that the footage he had thought was a secret tape was instead a widely shown clip of American prisoners arriving in Geneva after being released by Iran. The parents had criticised Trump at last week’s Democratic National Convention.
Later in a fund raising email to his supporters, Trump alleged that the Democrats and the mainstream media are doing everything they can to divide the Republican party.
Trump’s endorsement of McCain and Ayotte was similar in tone. “You tell me. Are these people that should be representing us, okay?”
During a rally in Iowa he branded her a “pathological” liar for her contortions about her emails, and said the former secretary of state is “close to unhinged”.
Eager to change their minds, Trump unleashed a torrent of insults at Clinton throughout the day. “We’re working and we’re going to continue to work until Tuesday”, Schmidt said.
“I like Paul, but these are frightful times for our country”, Trump told the Post.
Joe Borelli, a Trump co-chair in NY, said the campaign will weather the storm.
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Moments later, subscribers to Trump campaign texts received an alert that said, “Party unity will help Make America Great Again”.
