House speaker Paul Ryan has publicly rooted for a Donald Trump victory this November, but there are still indications the two are on a different page on policy.
Ryan said on Thursday that governing with Trump as president would make life easier on Republicans hoping to reform government. But considering how disconsonant the GOP nominee has been with party orthodoxy—his disinterest in entitlement reform and ambitious plans for infrastructure spending, for example—just how easy would it be? Here’s more from the Atlantic, which hosted Ryan at a forum Thursday morning:
Ryan’s responses didn’t all seem to be verbal, either.
under repeated questioning about Trump proposals at Atlantic #ideasforum, @SpeakerRyan is holding up House GOP agenda brochure like a shield
— Jon Ward (@jonward11) September 29, 2016
Trump said he wasn’t ready to support that agenda in May, when he helped stoke a political fight between Ryan and a long-shot primary challenger cut from Trump cloth. (Made in Wisconsin, actually.)
One feature of the agenda states that “[o]ur [p]resident has been acting more like a monarch than an elected official. That stops now. Our plan limits his power.”
Here’s what Trump said of GOP lawmakers in June: “You know, the Republicans—honestly, folks, our leaders have to get tougher. This is too tough to do it alone, but you know what, I think I’m going to be forced to. … We have to have our Republicans either stick together or let me just do it by myself.”
