The GOP’s alleged boy genius, Ayn Rand fanboy Paul Ryan, the nominal Speaker of the House and GOP convention chairman (for now), was a holdout in endorsing the short-fingered vulgarian con man, Donald Trump.
This led Trump supporters to call for his ouster as GOP convention chairman. Ryan demonstrated his usual lack of intestinal fortitude when confronted by the wingnut “wacko birds” in his party. Paul Ryan will skip chairing convention if Trump asks.
No worries! Today the GOP’s Flimflam Man capitulated to a master con man, and surrendered the GOP to Donald Trump. R.I.P. GOP. Paul Ryan: I’m voting for Trump:
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday said he will vote for Donald Trump for president after weeks of withholding a formal endorsement of his party’s presumptive nominee.
The article noted that when asked whether Ryan was endorsing Trump, a Ryan aide gave an unclear response: “He said he’ll vote for Trump in the piece. That speaks for itself, in our view.”
Ryan aide Brendan Buck followed up moments after the article was published, tweeting, “We’re not playing word games, feel free to call it an endorsement.”
As recently as last week, Ryan shot down reports that he would be imminently endorsing Trump and maintained he would announce on his own timeframe. Yet Ryan’s endorsement came days later, in the midst of a congressional recess.
Ryan’s aides said the Speaker made the decision to endorse Trump earlier this week. Trump and Ryan have not spoken since a phone call last week, aides said.
In the Gazette article, Ryan expressed confidence that Trump would help enact [his] policy platform House Republicans are expected to release over the course of this month.
Ryan declined to endorse Trump after a joint meeting with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus last month. But he said that weeks of conversations with the Trump campaign have assured him that Trump would be on the same page as House Republicans.
“Through these conversations, I feel confident he would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people’s lives. That’s why I’ll be voting for him this fall,” Ryan wrote.
He wrote that he was also reassured by Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees.
The Speaker had been increasingly isolated in withholding support for Trump. All of the other members of the House GOP leadership team have publicly backed Trump, along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky).
Like your mother used to say, “If all of your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?” Boy genius answered that question “yes.” Your mother must be so proud.
Trump and Ryan, the nation’s highest-ranking elected GOP official, differ on a range of policy areas, including trade pacts, Social Security, Planned Parenthood, easing restrictions with Cuba and immigration.
The Speaker tried to downplay their differences in his Thursday declaration. But he added that he will speak out in defense of conservative principles if he feels the occasion warrants.
“It’s no secret that he and I have our differences. I won’t pretend otherwise. And when I feel the need to, I’ll continue to speak my mind. But the reality is, on the issues that make up our agenda, we have more common ground than disagreement,” Ryan wrote.
I don’t think boy genius gets it. If Trump is elected president, it won’t be Paul Ryan’s “Roadmap for America’s Ruin” that he will pursue. Trump is the “boss” and it will be his agenda that he pursues, and if Ryan gets in his way, “you’re fired!”
Team Clinton got this right: Clinton aide: Ryan ‘never had the backbone’ to stand up to Trump:
Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon argued in a tweet that Ryan “never had the backbone” to stand up to Trump. Ryan has for weeks said he wasn’t ready to endorse the businessman.
Hillary Clinton is standing up to Trump in the way that the other Republican candidates–and Paul Ryan–never had the backbone to do.
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) June 2, 2016
Our sleazy governor endorsed this soggy circus peanut with the patch of mold on top just yesterday, proving he’s just as smart as GED Jan.
I said for a year he’d be gone by now and I was wrong. Now I’m worried the corporate media will elect this guy, because ratings are money, and imagine the ratings from this con man’s press conferences.
They’ve already proven they prefer ratings (cash) over the good of the country.
Man, I am gonna’ miss the USA when she’s gone.