Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., waits for the official tally of the roll call vote that nominated Donald Trump for president on day two at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
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While Wisconsin Congressman and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan wasn’t on board with Trump at the beginning he made it official tonight.
The gesture fired up the party faithful gathered inside the DoubleTree hotel in suburban Cleveland before Ryan delved into issues related to the upcoming presidential election, including national security and poverty.
“What I do know for sure is if we disunify, then we hand the left the country by default for another four years”, Ryan said, adding, “I just don’t want to be a party to that”.
Ryan, who has worked for months to keep Republicans together behind a controversial nominee he’s repeatedly criticized, called for Republicans to make 2016 a referendum on President Obama’s leadership. Ryan hesitated for weeks before endorsing the businessman.
“Whatever we lack going into this campaign, we should not lack for motivation”, Ryan said to end the speech.
Teams in the Big Ten such as The Ohio State University compete against each other, but “when one of us goes on the Rose Bowl, we all root for each other”, Ryan said.
Asked whether Trump was really a conservative, Ryan responded: “Define conservative, he’s not my kind of conservative”. “I can tell you there’s a very liberal senator that I think he’d do a very good job matching up against if he decides to run for the U.S. Senate”. “I’m looking for a vision, for him to move forward”, North Hills alternative delegate Mike McMullen said.
The House Speaker and former vice-presidential candidate says voters have a choice – repeating the failures of the Obama years with Hillary Clinton, or supporting real change.
“The Obama years are nearly over”.
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Ryan’s address to the Republican foot soldiers gathered in Quicken Loans Arena was meant as a pep rally after a opening night disaster of a plagiarism scandal and ahead of a competitive election this fall.
