Grassley reminded the public he was there in 1980 when Republicans wondered whether or not a movie star, Ronald Reagan, could be president. “They’re going to make a lot more than that”.
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“We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal”, Trump and Ryan wrote.
But two words that did not pass Ryan’s lips: “I endorse”.
King said when they met Ryan was “very upbeat”. The meeting aimed at repairing their breach and unifying a party torn over Trump’s rise to the cusp of the GOP presidential nomination.
Ryan noted that Trump has brought new voters into the Republican ranks – voters who may not share traditional Republican positions on all issues. He has not always been on what he calls the Trump Train.
Outside RNC headquarters about a dozen protesters chanted “Undocumented!”
On Thursday, Ryan appeared to be cautiously leaning in the direction of a growing group of Republicans who have decided that embracing Trump is their best defence against Democrats maintaining the White House for another four years.
Ryan told reporters in D.C. that he is still not committing to supporting Trump, he was “encouraged” by their talk. “He said they can find ways to find common ground”, King said.
“He said the meeting was very friendly from the start”. Trump asked the packed conference room.
“We will have policy disputes, [but] I am interested in going forward”, Ryan said. “He’s a very warm and genuine person”. Ryan, a policy-focused conservative, insists the GOP must be a party of ideas, and has championed an agenda that has drawn Trump’s scorn by pushing cuts in Medicare and other government programs.
Ryan is taking some political risk.
On the eve of the meetings, Trump eased his defiant tone of recent days.
But with Trump at the top of the ticket, it may be a hard distraction, and it’s leading to public splits among Oregon Republicans who are forced to back Trump or the unknown.
“Trump has a pow-wow with unsupportive GOPe House leader Paul Ryan today”, Palin said. The billionaire later tweeted out a black-and-white picture of the pair in animated conversation, with Trump staring down at the Kentucky senator in an LBJ-like pose.
While many upper echelon party figures including 2012 nominee Mitt Romney and the two Bush presidents are opposed to Mr Trump, there are signs of a growing move to unite behind him.
Hunter, who said he doesn’t plan to attend the convention, is a Trump delegate, though he said he didn’t want to be.
On one hand, aside from Trump’s slightly progressive – and fleeting, now that he’s the presumptive nominee – stances on things like trade and nonintervention, he recites mostly conservative talking points the rest of the time.
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Under questioning from Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a former Trump rival in the presidential race, Baker said the world “would be far less stable” with a weaker North Atlantic Treaty Organisation or if more countries had nuclear weapons as Trump has proposed. The narrowing poll numbers are the result of both a gain by Trump and a drop by Clinton as she tries to overcome Democratic rival Vermont senator Bernie Sanders. May 8, 2016: “I don’t know how people make it on $7.25 an hour”.
