Paul D. Ryan, the House
speaker, on Capitol Hill in April, is described as having become
increasingly depressed about the tone of presidential race in the
Republican Party.Credit
Drew Angerer for The New York Times
WASHINGTON — To many Republicans, Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s proclamation on Thursday that he was not prepared to supportDonald J. Trump seemed to be an opening bid. In truth, it was more like the final word.
Although
party leaders furiously brokered a meeting between the two men at the
Capitol next Thursday, it is likely that only substantial changes in Mr.
Trump’s language and tenor, not just minor calibrations on policy
positions, will be needed to bring Mr. Ryan to his camp.
Mr. Ryan has become increasingly depressed about the tone of the race within the Republican Party,
several people who have talked to him in recent weeks said. He could
not bring himself to give even nominal support to Mr. Trump, despite
pressure from more conservative House Republicans, after the candidate
disparaged various ethnic groups and accused Senator Ted Cruz’s father
of conspiring with Lee Harvey Oswald, among other inflammatory comments.
Those remarks determined Mr. Ryan’s course far more than the
considerable differences on policy between the men.
Mr.
Ryan’s stance may lead to the remarkable scenario of a convention
chairman presiding over the nomination of a man he does not support, but
it basically comes down to three things.
First,
and most important: he can do it. Unlike former Speaker John A.
Boehner, who had to fight to cling to his gavel almost from the moment
he took it in 2011, Mr. Ryan was drafted into his job by the majority of
his conference. And unlike Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the
majority leader, who says he supports Mr. Trump, Mr. Ryan is largely
impervious to criticism from the right. Agree or disagree with Mr. Ryan,
at this point his members need him more than he needs them, at least to
prevent unmitigated chaos in their ranks.
It
is notable that House conservatives often derided Mr. Boehner for not
“sticking to conservative principles” in negotiating with Democrats on
legislation, but now are chafing that Mr. Ryan, whose conservative
principles have in many ways been rejected by Mr. Trump, is not getting
behind the presumptive nominee.
By NATALIA V. OSIPOVA2:20Great Clash: Donald Trump vs. Paul Ryan
Video
Great Clash: Donald Trump vs. Paul Ryan
By NATALIA V. OSIPOVA on Publish Date February 24, 2016.
Photo by Jim Wilson/The New York Times; Doug Mills/The New York Times.
Watch in Times Video »
“Isn’t
it a principle that the G.O.P. speaker would support the G.O.P.
nominee?” said Representative Mick Mulvaney, Republican of South
Carolina and a frequent scold of House leadership, discussing the
party’s conundrum in an email exchange. (Rock: Meet hard place, over at
the Speaker’s Balcony.)
Second,
Mr. Ryan sees the value in protecting Republican House members up for
re-election in swing districts where Mr. Trump may well be a drag on the
rest of the ticket.
“I
thought it was helpful,” said Representative Charlie Dent, Republican
of Pennsylvania. “I believe that Paul expressed feelings that many of us
have. Trump’s attacks on Muslims, the Hispanics, that David Duke
fiasco, the abortion exchange with Chris Matthews, all these issues are
just really unsettling.” He added, “Donald Trump has to convince many
Americans, including me, that he is ready and able to lead this great
country, and at the moment I am not convinced.”
Representative Ann Wagner, Republican of Missouri, made similar remarks to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The
third reason is that nothing Mr. Ryan has said compels him to change
his current course as speaker, which is largely focused on developing an
alternative Republican policy agenda and shoring up vulnerable members
with money and help campaigning. He plans to develop that agenda with
House members, even if election politics may well prevent any of it from
becoming actual legislation.
This
is perhaps the weakest reason for withholding support from Mr. Trump,
since without a Republican in the White House, there will probably be no
Ryan agenda. But for Mr. Ryan, Mr. Trump’s conduct appears to loom
larger than the speaker’s policy dreams. So even if the candidate shows
up at the Capitol next week and says “I fully support this agenda,” it
would almost certainly not be enough, Ryan aides say.
Do not expect Mr. Ryan to join Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, who has taken to penning letters to America by the riverbanks
and searching for an alternative to Mr. Trump. The speaker will
probably just keep doing what he is doing: raising money for
Republicans, talking — both amorphously and perhaps later more
substantively — about policy ideas, and looking, with hope and some
desperation, for that change in tone from the presumptive nominee.
Mr.
Trump so far has not signaled that this is in the offing. On Twitter on
Friday morning, he wrote: “Paul Ryan said that I inherited something
very special, the Republican Party. Wrong, I didn’t inherit it, I won it
with millions of voters!”
No comments:
Post a Comment