ANALYSIS: Paul Ryan Gambles Policy Vision in Embracing Donald Trump
— -- House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday launched a new initiative with touches that have become his trademark.
“A Better Way” is a policy-heavy, optimistic vision for governing that will be driven, in Ryan’s telling, by the House of Representatives that he leads.
“We can get angry, and we can stay angry,” Ryan said in rolling the project out, “or we can channel that anger into action.”
It’s a powerful sentiment in a year where conservatives fear their core principles will suffer because of a presidential candidate for whom “angry” might be a compliment. But Ryan, of course, is now on record supporting that same candidate.
Ryan’s decision to endorse Donald Trump, coming less than 24 hours earlier before announcing his own new project, is a gamble as big as any he has made during a generally successful, if still young, speakership.
He is still hoping that he can put policy ahead of personality, in a year where the latter has utterly dominated the discussion. And Ryan is trusting Trump to stay out of his way, now that Ryan is removing himself as an obstacle to Trump’s bid.
Ryan’s decision does also make him a Trump supporter, which means being asked to answer for Trump’s latest. It took only hours for Trump to attack a federal judge as biased based on his Mexican heritage; “I completely disagree,” Ryan responded in a radio interview Friday.
Even if Ryan says such things consistently, his brand may be eroded by his decision to endorse. The Washington Post called Ryan’s endorsement “a sad day for the GOP – and America.” In the Washington Examiner, conservative writer Philip Klein responded to the endorsement by saying that “every Republican who endorses Trump has hate on their hands.”
Ryan’s play is broader than this presidential election, though. An endorsement of the Republican nominee was inevitable, and ultimately the only way to get himself breathing room to offer his own platform for House members to rally behind, in the view of Ryan advisers.