Reince Priebus is breaking with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said Thursday he’s not ready to back Trump. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have asked Texas Republicans to rally around Trump since then.
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Many or most of those who matured under traditional conservative ideas, shaped by opinion-makers and even presidents, have never been able to accept the idea of Trump as the nominee because he gave so little care to what they have considered core to the party’s ideals.
In a morning television interview, Trump said he had been surprised by Ryan’s comments.
He told Giordano, “And we can not allow Hillary Clinton to become the president of the United States and continue and maybe even make permanent so much of the bad damage that Barack Obama has done to our country, to our economy, to our standing around the world”. “So the question is, ‘What can you do to unify all wings of the party to go forward?'”
Priebus continued: “It’s going to take some time in some cases for people to work through differences”.
Donald Trump has used tweets to insult women and ethnic groups, and to drive news cycles over everything from his late-night TV choices to his midday food options. “Saying we’re unified doesn’t in and of itself unify us, but actually taking the principles that we all believe in, showing that there’s a dedication to those, and running a principled campaign that Republicans can be proud about and that can actually appeal to a majority of Americans – that, to me, is what it takes to unify this party”.
With deep concerns about Trump at the top of the ticket, Ryan is positioning himself to play a central role in helping to protect vulnerable Republican House and Senate candidates heading into the general election, said Spencer Zwick, Ryan’s national finance chairman. “They have been treated so badly for so long that it is about time for politicians to put them first!”
To be sure, Trump’s enthusiastic support from Republican primary voters – they skew whiter and older – is rooted in part in his willingness to cross lines of political correctness and flout traditional campaign decorum.
Trump’s ode to the taco bowl may have been sent with good intentions.
Trump ignored the rebukes during a Thursday night appearance in Charleston, West Virginia, addressing Ryan’s decision only in a written statement issued earlier in the day. “Ryan champions free-trade agreements, worldwide military engagement, and sweeping overhauls of Social Security and Medicare, whereas Trump is an avowed opponent of recent trade deals, foreign interventions and proposed changes to entitlement programs”, the Post reported.
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Trump’s candidacy represents a policy threat to what Republicans have stood by for generations.
