Donald Trump got a huge boost for his Republican nomination campaign when House Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed the business tycoon weeks after withholding his decision.
Ryan will co-chair the Republican National Congress in July, and his backing amounts to virtual realization in the GOP leadership that Trump, though a divisive figure, might be their only choice in the current circumstance, when all establishment favorites have been ousted.
Nevertheless, several Republican leaders have not made up their mind yet to support the real estate businessman due to a variety of differences.
In a newspaper column that comes after the Speaker and Trump had discussions on the way forward for the fractured Party and the Republican agenda, Ryan also expressed those views.
“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,” the Speaker wrote in Gazette Xtra, a Wisconsin newspaper.
Continuing, Ryan wrote “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.”
Last month, Speaker Ryan had earlier rejected rumors that he had endorsed Trump as GOP choice for the presidential candidate.
Trump has been ruthless in criticizing his GOP rivals and has often taken stands on issues that clash with the traditional Republican thinking and values – such as opposition to free trade accords and relations with such powerful international players as Europeans and NATO.
The billionaire businessman has also been airing anti-immigrant sentiment with suggestions like expelling illegal immigrants, building a wall on Mexican border and banning Muslims from entering the United States.
But the Speaker took a broader look at the issue of the GOP rallying around Trump, and also invoked opposition to likely Democratic contender Hillary Clinton’s winning the White House, the Obama healthcare and liberal agenda.
“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.”
