Trump, Ryan increasingly at odds over future of the GOP

[webfact]

Trump, Ryan increasingly at odds over future of the GOP
By JULIE PACE, ERICA WERNER and BILL BARROW

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump wants to win the White House in the fall. Paul Ryan wants to save his vision of the Republican Party for years to come.

Those goals put Trump and Ryan increasingly at odds over both tone and substance as the businessman barrels toward the GOP presidential nomination. While Ryan is appealing for political civility and a party rooted in traditional conservative principles, Trump is bucking campaign decorum and embracing policy positions that are sharply at odds with years of GOP orthodoxy.

Their starkly different visions for the Republican Party are a microcosm of the broader fissures roiling the GOP. And if Trump does become the Republican nominee, he and the House speaker's ability to work together could be the first test of whether a party in this much turmoil can stay together.

"Trump's obviously running on issues that are contrary to conservatives and at odds with what a lot of what Paul Ryan believes," said Peter Wehner, a former adviser to President George W. Bush.

For now, Trump and Ryan are engaged largely in a cold war, with the politicians only occasionally mentioning each other by name. Ryan has picked key moments to draw implicit contrasts with Trump, including condemning the billionaire's refusal to take responsibility for violence at his rallies. Trump will launch the next volley Tuesday when he campaigns in Ryan's hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin, ahead of the state's April 5 primary.

Trump, in his trademark contradictory style, has both praised Ryan and ominously warned the speaker against crossing him.

"Paul Ryan, I don't know him well, but I'm sure I'm going to get along with him, and if I don't, he's going to have to pay a big price, OK?" Trump said after his victories on Super Tuesday. A week later, after speaking with Ryan by phone, Trump said of the speaker: "I like him a lot. I respect him a lot."

People close to Ryan say the Wisconsin lawmaker is in disbelief about Trump's staying power. While he's publicly vowed to support whomever his party nominates, Ryan has privately said he's focused on trying to keep the GOP's House majority this fall and on fundraising for the party — leaving some friends with the impression that he would be a less-than-enthusiastic Trump backer in a general election.

Looming large are Ryan's own political ambitions. He passed on running for the White House in 2016, but some Republicans still harbor hopes that he could emerge as the nominee in a convention fight this summer if neither Trump nor Ted Cruz clinch the nomination by then.

"I would be less than honest with you if I said people are not mentioning a Ryan candidacy from time to time," said Rep. Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvania Republican who meets regularly with Ryan. "Clearly there are many in Congress who see Paul Ryan as a consensus candidate."

Ryan has vigorously denied that he's interested, though he was similarly definitive last year when he rebuffed calls to run for the speaker's job. He's also insists that his role as chairman of the July convention requires him to remain officially neutral despite his obvious displeasure with Trump.

Yet Ryan's refusal to fully disavow Trump has left him open to criticism that he either cares too much about keeping the real estate mogul's enthusiastic supporters in the Republican fold or that he doesn't fully understand the threat.

"The barbarian is at the gate, and Paul Ryan wants to talk sense to him?" wrote David D. Haynes, the editorial page editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the largest newspaper in Ryan's home state.

Trump, in private at least, has tried to soften such dire talk. A few weeks ago, he sent Ryan a copy of a Washington Post article that he'd marked up to show his disagreement with the piece's assertion that he was a threat to GOP orthodoxy. A Ryan aide confirmed that Trump sent the article, speaking on condition of anonymity because the aide was not authorized to speak publicly by name.

Ryan has been working behind the scenes to produce congressional plans on issues including health care, the economy and national security. Though not the original intent of Ryan's "agenda project," the effort could give Republicans something to run on if they can't or don't want to hitch themselves to their presidential nominee.

Trump's own policy proposals, though often vague, have sometimes sharply conflicted with where Ryan is trying to position the party, particularly on economic issues.

Ryan rose to prominence among Republicans for spending proposals that eventually would privatize government entitlement programs, gradually reducing those operations' share of federal spending. While Trump has joined Republicans in bemoaning alleged abuses of entitlement programs, he's long blasted proposals like Ryan's.

"As Republicans, if you think you are going to change very substantially for the worse Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in any substantial way, and at the same time you think you are going to win elections, it just really is not going to happen," Trump said during a 2013 appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Trump has also spent decades criticizing U.S. trade policy and advocating steep tariffs on Chinese imports. It's a protectionist argument that puts him at odds with decades of Republican support for international trade, though he's in line with a growing contingent of House Republicans who see sweeping foreign trade deals as detrimental to American workers.

Before becoming speaker, Ryan was among the most vocal House Republicans in backing trade agreements, including President Barack Obama's Asia-Pacific pact. As speaker, Ryan has yet to schedule a vote on the Pacific Rim deal, saying he and other members are carefully vetting the details.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-03-29

[NeverSure]

The Republican establishment is out of touch with the people. That's why "People close to Ryan say the Wisconsin lawmaker is in disbelief about Trump's staying power." The reasons have been discussed and discussed. People are tired of losing jobs to China and Mexico and they're tired of having such a porous border. They are tired of spending about 1/2 of the world's military budget and they are tired of being ripped off by China and Mexico.

Oh well, Ryan, you are part of the problem...

[ronwparker]

I am so scared that Trump will beome President as he is such a loud mouthed bigot & with Putin who is also a monster there is potential for conflict!!!

[Usernames]

I am so scared that Trump will beome President as he is such a loud mouthed bigot & with Putin who is also a monster there is potential for conflict!!!

Unlike the Democrats and other Republicans, Trump intends to put the interests of Americans before that of foreigners such as yourself. Perhaps that is why you have a problem with him. Yes, he's bigoted--in favor of Americans for a change. Time the rest of you paid your own way.

[Usernames]

I am so scared that Trump will beome President as he is such a loud mouthed bigot & with Putin who is also a monster there is potential for conflict!!!

Unlike the Democrats and other Republicans, Trump intends to put the interests of Americans before that of foreigners such as yourself. Perhaps that is why you have a problem with him. Yes, he's bigoted--in favor of Americans for a change. Time the rest of you paid your own way.

[Pinot]

I am so scared that Trump will beome President as he is such a loud mouthed bigot & with Putin who is also a monster there is potential for conflict!!!

Unlike the Democrats and other Republicans, Trump intends to put the interests of Americans before that of foreigners such as yourself. Perhaps that is why you have a problem with him. Yes, he's bigoted--in favor of Americans for a change. Time the rest of you paid your own way.

Time for the rest of you paid your own way???

And what indication is there that this corrupt Mussolini wannabe will do anything? He has never been elected to office. He has no idea how to govern. He has no policies or understanding of foreign affairs. He's a self obsessed liar appealing to low-info racist wingnuts.

Don't get me wrong, I sincerely hope Trump is the Republican nominee. He'll finish the Republican party forever.

I still can't get over that beautiful tweet he put out yesterday. After the Pakistan bomb, he said, "Another radical Islamic attack. Only I can save you."

What a jerk.

[iReason]

"The barbarian is at the gate, and Paul Ryan wants to talk sense to him?"

wrote David D. Haynes, the editorial page editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the largest newspaper in Ryan's home state.

Succinctly put Mr. Haynes.

[Chicog]

I am so scared that Trump will beome President as he is such a loud mouthed bigot & with Putin who is also a monster there is potential for conflict!!!

Unlike the Democrats and other Republicans, Trump intends to put the interests of Americans before that of foreigners such as yourself.

Trump has always and always will put his own interests before anyone else.

Read the words of one of his own staff:

http://www.xojane.com/issues/stephanie-cegielski-donald-trump-campaign-defector

[grumpyoldman]

The Republican establishment is out of touch with the people. That's why "People close to Ryan say the Wisconsin lawmaker is in disbelief about Trump's staying power." The reasons have been discussed and discussed. People are tired of losing jobs to China and Mexico and they're tired of having such a porous border. They are tired of spending about 1/2 of the world's military budget and they are tired of being ripped off by China and Mexico.

Oh well, Ryan, you are part of the problem...

NeverSure you ARE clear that Trump has a Trump named clothing line manufactured in China, right? So the guy that sends jobs to China, is the guy to cure the U.S. tiredness of losing jobs to China? Jeeezo dude, talk about total hypocrisy.........

Regarding Paul Ryan,"and if I don't (get along with him), he's going to have to pay a big price, OK?" Trump said" Here imbecile is with his threats again.

Total turd.

[attrayant]

Don't get me wrong, I sincerely hope Trump is the Republican nominee. He'll finish the Republican party forever.

Not forever - maybe a generation.

Ryan may have to abandon the party to save it. Ryan could let the baby have his bottle (let Trump have his nomination) and then form a new party, running another candidate against Trump. While it's not a strategy to win the election, it would prevent Trump from winning and subsequently burning the party to the ground. There is a precedent for this, from 1912:

To Defeat Trump: Let History Repeat Itself

[Usernames]

Trump realizes that the US is no longer in the 1980s. No need for Nato, no need to line up american troops everywhere from the North Korean border to the Middle East, no need to constantly interfere in other countries' internal affairs, no need for bureaucratically strangling international trade deals that only benefit the elites, no need to give away US residency and citizenship like it's worth nothing more than a cheap prize in a box of cracker jacks. Paul Ryan and the rest of the Republicans, ESPECIALLY Ted Cruz, think it's 1980. And just to satisfy the Chamber of Commerce, the political consultant hacks at all those well funded think tanks, the internationalists, the Mexican-Firsters, they are willing to nominate Ted Cruz who claims to speak in tongues, invade Cuba, occupy Lebanon, re-occupy Iraq and Afghanistan and add Syria and Libya to the list. Cruz is the only certifiable lunatic in the race. And he is Paul Ryan's boy.