Republican Donald Trump acted to steer his White House campaign back into favor with his party’s establishment on Friday by endorsing US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and two Republican senators seeking re-election, after expressing coolness toward them earlier this week.
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Only days ago, Trump triggered panic within the GOP when he declined to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan’s re-election or that of other leading Republicans.
“I like Paul, but these are terrible times for our country”, Trump said Tuesday of Ryan, who faces a challenge by a conservative insurgent in the August 9 Wisconsin primary.
The timing is unusual. John McCain Friday evening at a rally in Green Bay, the latest twist in a yearlong feud that started with Trump disrespecting McCain’s military service.
Trump earlier this week refused to endorse Ryan, telling The Washington Post he was “not quite there yet” – almost the same phrase Ryan had used about Trump before finally endorsing him. Ryan squares off next week against a primary challenger who has praised Trump. Trump’s general election campaign has been defined by his constant attacks on fellow Republicans – a habit that has baffled party leaders, who have begged him to stay focused on his Democratic rival.
Trump, reading from printed notes, voiced his support for Ryan, Arizona Sen. and former GOP presidential candidate John McCain and New Hampshire Sen.
Trump is set to deliver an economic speech on Monday to the prestigious Detroit Economic Club in his effort to step past his spats over the past 10 days with the Muslim-American parents of a slain Army captain and the leaders of a Republican Party he has promised to unite.
He said, as president, he will need a Republican Senate and House to accomplish all of the changes he wants to make.
“The one common feature of every Hillary Clinton idea is that it punishes you for working and doing business in the United States”, Trump said. “We will work together”. “People who work hard but no longer have a voice”. He reiterated his support for Trump hours before the endorsement, but he noted that his support wasn’t a “blank check” and pledged to speak out against the businessman’s divisive positions if necessary.
It’s not clear that Ryan is keen to receive Trump’s endorsement. “And Republicans are anxious that if Trump is so toxic at the top of the ticket, it’s not that they might vote Democratic, it’s that they might not turn out at all for anybody”.
Earlier this week, Trump’s vice presidential selection Mike Pence endorsed Ryan with Trump’s support.
While the poll did not prove a post-convention bounce for Clinton since EPIC-MRA had not polled on the presidential race since March, when she held a similar edge, it clearly indicated that the former secretary of state – who is expected to visit MI next Wednesday – holds a commanding lead following the convention in a state that hasn’t backed a Republican presidential nominee since George H.W. Bush in 1988.
I have been trying to understand what it is that has driven people to support Trump, and I’ve met with some people.
In a radio interview Friday morning, Ryan did not rule out withdrawing his endorsement of Trump. Clinton had stronger leads among subgroups of people with college experience and degrees.
Speaking of Reagan, remember when his former spokesperson and speechwriter said: “I knew Ronald Reagan; I worked for Ronald Reagan”. Trump did not repeat those comments from the convention stage.
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“I’m not going to try and psychoanalyze this stuff”, the House speaker told Weber.
