House Speaker Paul Ryan is battling to preserve the conservative movement as the ideological power center of the Republican Party amid a populist takeover by Donald Trump.
The new Republican standard bearer won his party’s presidential nomination despite casting aside decades of sacrosanct GOP dogma on domestic and foreign policies, while ignoring convention for how candidates should behave on the campaign trail.
Ryan, a product of the conservative movement who has helped shape the modern Republican agenda, is refusing to fall in line behind his party’s new leader — at least for now, a fairly extraordinary move for a politician in a senior leadership position.
In (temporarily) withholding his endorsement, the speaker aims to secure some form of guarantee from the presumptive nominee that he won’t gut the GOP platform or junk the principles that have guided the party at least since President Reagan was elected in 1980.
The speaker also wants to protect his influence, while shielding congressional Republicans from political fallout should Trump’s unpredictable candidacy crash and burn against likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“I represent a wing of the conservative party, you could say. He’s bringing a whole new wing to it, he’s bringing new voters that we’ve never had for decades. That’s a positive thing,” Ryan said. “The question is, can we unify on common, core principles that make our party — and by the way, the principles that built this country?”
Ryan was speaking to reporters on Thursday after a private, one hour meeting with Trump at Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington. It was their first meeting since Trump became the presumptive presidential nominee and only the second time the two politicians had ever met in person.
Also in attendance was RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, who brokered the face-to-face after Ryan’s surprising announcement last week that he was not yet prepared to endorse Trump. Ryan said he and Trump were honest with each other about their clashing visions for the GOP but that they also found areas of agreement.
Under Ryan’s direction, House Republicans are developing proposals to overhaul the tax code, the Obamacare health care system and other areas of the government. The speaker said that one result of his meeting with Trump was that House GOP policy aides, and those from the New York businessman’s campaign, would begin comparing notes on policy proposals.
Signaling that an endorsement from Ryan is a matter of when, not if, the speaker and the nominee issued a joint statement expressing optimism that they would be able to reach a consensus and team up to lead a unified front against the Democrats this fall. “…This was our first meeting, but it was a very positive step toward unification,” they said.
On Capitol Hill, Ryan’s hesitation to back the nominee reflects deep anxiety among movement conservatives over what Trump winning the nomination means for them and the future of the party.
There is a political aspect. Trump leading the ticket threatens to sink Republicans running for re-election in swing House districts and battleground states. But other than some agreement on immigration policies, Trump’s populist agenda stands in fundamental opposition to conservative policies most congressional Republicans ran on, and that have defined their political careers.
On foreign policy, Trump is a quasi-isolationist; most Republicans believe in robust U.S. leadership abroad. Domestically, Trump has given short shrift to shrinking the size and scope of government, a top conservative priority, while suggesting an expansive view of presidential power — among the Republicans chief complaints about President Obama.
Ryan’s effort to push Trump to honor the GOP’s conservative tenants, even if he doesn’t embrace them, and to tone down his rhetoric, is reassuring to Republicans like Jeff Flake of Arizona, a senator with libertarian leanings who so far is refusing to endorse the nominee.
“If it’s coming from Ryan, it’s a matter of principle, putting the party first, here,” Flake said.
Asked if he is concerned that the GOP base is evolving and becoming less conservative, Flake added: “I hope not; I hope not. When you look at some of these positions, deport 11 million people, have a Muslim ban, change libel laws, treat our full faith and credit as if we can declare bankruptcy and re-negotiate our debt, these are things that I hope we don’t change on.”
Ryan has taken some heat from congressional Republicans who would prefer he “rip the band aid off” and get the Trump endorsement over with, so that their constituents and the media will stop asking them about it. This week, they were vocal about it.
For many, it’s not an issue of their support for Trump, but the fact that their constituents voted for him. Americans are frustrated with Washington and Republican voters in particular have lost faith in government and institutions, and GOP politicians who are on the ballot in 2016 are loathe to appear as though they’re ignoring the will of their constituents.
“The guy won more votes than have ever been won in a Republican primary and he’s not through yet,” Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, said. “I can’t argue he needs to be different. He’s obviously hit upon a winning formula.”
As Republicans try and make sense of what Trump’s nomination means for their future and the future of the party, one aspect of the primaries has calmed their nerves. And, that is that none of them have lost a primary contest in a district or state that where Trump was successful.
That suggests to congressional Republicans that there are limits to the Trump-driven anti-establishment fervor. Republicans are calculating that voters are using Trump to send a message that they’re sick and tired with business as usual in D.C., not necessarily any disapproval with their party’s conservative governing agenda.
“There are contradictions in these results in these elections that are awfully hard to fathom,” said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, a Tea Party conservative who supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s White House bid.
Susan Ferrechio contributed to this report
