Paul Ryan Voting for Donald Trump Despite Having Differences

By
BENJAMIN SIEGEL
June 2, 2016, 3:25 PM ET
2 min read

— -- House Speaker Paul Ryan today said he would vote for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, in comments that his spokesman later said could be characterized as an endorsement.

In a column in The Janesville (Wisconsin) Gazette, Ryan said that Trump, the GOP's presumptive nominee, can help House Republicans enact their election-year policy agenda if he becomes president.

“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,” Ryan writes in the op-ed.

The Wisconsin Republican made the decision endorse Trump earlier this week, after initially withholding his support. He said he was encouraged by Trump's list of potential Supreme Court nominees and the conversations the two have had about the role of the executive branch and conservative principles.

Ryan has sometimes been vocal in criticizing Trump, rebuking his call for a ban on Muslim immigration and his failure to distance himself from white supremacist support.

“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,” Ryan writes in the piece, published Thursday. “But the reality is, on the issues that make up our agenda, we have more common ground than disagreement.”

The message of support comes just days before the speaker is expected to lay out the first proposal in his “Confident America” policy 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. Donald Trump can help us make it a reality,” Ryan wrote.

Trump is expected to return to Washington in June for meetings with the House Republican conference and his early supporters on Capitol Hill.