Paul Ryan is stuck in a Trump trap
Lining up with Trump is a major risk to Ryan’s brand — but not endorsing the presumptive nominee could alienate the grassroots.
“Paul doesn’t want to be an issue; we need to beat Hillary Clinton — that’s the issue here,” said South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a leader in the House Freedom Caucus. “Any high ranking Republican — whether Paul Ryan, Reince Priebus or Jeb Bush — that says they’re not supporting nominee? They have some hard questions to answer about why they’re a Republican.”
.. The difficulty for Ryan is that Trump, by his own admission, is incredibly malleable on policy. So the speaker has to appeal to Trump on a visceral level, and the real estate magnate has used identity politics and unpopular political strategy to fuel his ascent. Banning Muslims from the U.S. and playing footsie with white supremacists need to stop, Ryan has said publicly. But Trump has shown no willingness to temper that talk.