Rumors of Paul Ryan’s impending endorsement of Donald Trump have been greatly exaggerated. That’s according to the House speaker, who said he didn’t know the origin a Tuesday evening Bloomberg report that Ryan was hoping to “end his standoff” with Trump and was closer to endorsing the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
“I haven’t made a decision,” Ryan told reporters Wednesday in his Capitol office. “Nothing’s changed with that perspective, and we’re still having productive conversations.”
The Wisconsin Republican has not yet endorsed Trump for president but said in a press conference earlier this month that he hoped to help unify the party ahead of the November elections. “I do believe that we are now planting the seeds to get ourselves unified,” Ryan said on May 12, after a 45-minute meeting with Trump.
What is Ryan waiting to be convinced about Trump before his endorsement? The speaker didn’t get specific, but on Wednesday he again emphasized the need to find common principles on policy. “We’re a big-tent party with lots of different wings of the Republican party, and we clearly come from different wings of the Republican party. There’s no two ways about it. The question is, if we’re going to unify, can we figure out what is the common foundation that ties all those wings together, and that’s what we’re working on,” Ryan said.
Ryan continued to acknowledge the policy differences with Trump while insisting there are common principles, but the speaker was unwilling to address questions about the Republican candidate’s personal character. Asked by THE WEEKLY STANDARD about some of the problematic statements and actions Trump has made on the campaign trail—dismissing the service of American prisoners of war, mocking a physically disabled reporter, and denigrating women for their appearance—Ryan waved away the question.
And what Ryan can control, he says, is the agenda House Republicans put forward. He continued to express the hope that Trump, as the nominee, would pick up the ideas developed by Ryan’s colleagues.
Ryan said his staff speaks with Trump’s “virtually every day” and said the New York billionaire is “familiar” with the House Republican conference’s upcoming release of several detailed policy papers on issues like national security, health care, and economic growth. Ryan said House Republicans will likely release its first proposal, on poverty, at the beginning of June.
Another issue about which House Republicans are “animated,” Ryan said, is the separation of powers and the reassertion of Congress’s power against the expansion of executive power. What about the indications from Trump that he, as president, would continue to expand executive power? “That is one of my big concerns, not just with Donald Trump but with whoever the next president’s going to be,” Ryan said. “And we who are the guardians of Article One have seen this power slip.
“We want to make darned sure that our standard bearer understands and appreciates and respects and supports the Constitution,” he added.
