Republican Race Puts Donald Trump and Paul Ryan on Collision Course

Some Republican lawmakers say, though nervously, that there would be plenty of intersection between their agenda and Mr. Trump’s. His tax plan — which calls for large tax cuts for all Americans, especially the rich — is similar to Mr. Ryan’s. Mr. Trump, like Mr. Ryan, is all for repealing and replacing the current health care law, although he, unlike Mr. Ryan, has endorsed the individual mandate.

Donald Trump Finds a Foil in Paul Ryan

The ideas the group de­bated in­cluded con­vert­ing more fed­er­al anti-poverty programs in­to state block grants; ex­pand­ing the Earned In­come Tax Cred­it that sup­ports the work­ing poor, pro­mot­ing charter schools, crim­in­al-justice re­form, and re­think­ing treat­ment for drug ad­dicts. Phrases such as “out­come-based meas­ures” and “middle-skilled jobs” drew know­ing nods.

.. Demo­crats find much to cri­ti­cize in these spe­cif­ic pro­pos­als. Ad­voc­ates for the poor ar­gue that Ry­an’s plans to block-grant anti-poverty pro­grams such as food stamps would pro­duce large spend­ing cuts.

.. Polit­ic­ally, the for­um re­flec­ted the be­lief of many con­ser­vat­ive policy intellectuals that the party can win back the White House only by prov­ing it has con­crete re­sponses that ex­tend bey­ond tax cuts to the eco­nom­ic chal­lenges most Amer­ic­ans face.

.. Their more fun­da­ment­al difference is that Trump is lead­ing the GOP to­ward a European-style ra­cial nationalism that re­lies primar­ily on mar­shal­ing griev­ances among ali­en­ated whites

The Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio Moment

Jeb Bush’s problems are temperamental and thus most likely permanent. He would probably be a very effective president. And he would have been a very effective candidate — but in 1956. These are harsher times.