Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 07:02 pm
After months of dancing around endorsing Donald Trump, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) held his nose and endorsed Trump in the smallest venue imaginable. Ryan endorsed Trump in a column for the local Janesville, Wisconsin newspaper.
Ryan wrote:
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.
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.
For me, it’s a question of how to move ahead on the ideas that I—and my House colleagues—have invested so much in through the years. It’s not just a choice of two people, but of two visions for America. And House Republicans are helping shape that Republican vision by offering a bold policy agenda, by offering a better way ahead.
Donald Trump can help us make it a reality.
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So, the only reason that Paul Ryan is endorsing Trump is that he is the Republican nominee. If Republicans would have nominated a mop, Ryan would have endorsed the mop. Speaker Ryan’s “endorsement” of Trump comes down to the fact that he had no other choice. The Republican Speaker of the House isn’t going to endorse Hillary Clinton, and since he is the leader of the House, he had to eventually endorse the Republican nominee anyway.
It speaks volumes that Ryan made his endorsement when the House was not in session. Ryan didn’t hold a press conference or appear at a Trump event. Paul Ryan doesn’t want to be seen with Donald Trump. He doesn’t want to get any of the Trump stink on him that could end up handing the House majority back to Democrats.
Paul Ryan’s endorsement of Trump may be the worst in modern American political history.
The only way this endorsement could have been made any less important would have been if Ryan would have issued it in an email on the 4th of July. Paul Ryan will vote for Donald Trump because he has to, and he expects Republican voters to hold their noses and do the same.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
