We begin today’s roundup with Eli Stokols at POLITICO and his analysis of the photo-op meeting between House Speaker Paul Ryan and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump:
It was exactly the kind of scripted political photo-op that Donald Trump loves to disparage as phony, yet there he was, waving to a phalanx of photographers outside RNC headquarters, smiling and playing along.
For an hour, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee sat face to face with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who just a week ago surprised Trump by declaring he couldn’t yet support his candidacy. And soon after it was over, both men issued a statement expressing optimism about working together – Ryan saying he was “very encouraged” and Trump calling it a “great meeting.”
But those platitudes are window dressing, a temporary distraction from the still-real rift dividing the GOP’s intellectual class personified by Ryan and the frustrated, blue-collar base that has anointed a billionaire populist as the party’s new standard-bearer.
The New York Times points out this is all expected:
For a time it seemed that Mr. Ryan might take a stand against Mr. Trump. Now it appears that he will wind up embracing a candidate who repudiates some Republican policies while also personifying many of the party’s most retrograde views.
Few should be surprised. For years, Republican politicians, focused solely on winning the next election, have issued coded appeals to nativists and racists in the base, while abandoning the party’s most desperate voters. In Congress, they have accommodated extremists determined to lay waste to basic federal government functions. John Boehner, the conservative speaker, was drummed out of office. Today Mr. Ryan, Mr. Boehner’s replacement, can’t get his budget, filled with draconian cuts, past Tea Partiers who condemn him as a free-spending sellout.
Ron Elving at NPR dives into the numbers in Ryan’s district:
it gets more complicated the longer Ryan withholds his blessing for Trump's nomination. The district went for Ted Cruz in the April 5 primary by 19 points, but since Cruz dropped out and Trump became the de facto nominee, fresh polling has shown 1st District Republicans coming around. One poll found them split almost evenly between favorable and unfavorable feelings toward Trump, and a clear majority wanted Ryan to endorse him.
John Nichols at The Nation also agrees that Ryan’s move toward Trump isn’t surprising:
The Trump-Ryan meeting was the latest step in a totally predictable dance between a career politician and political newcomer around what Ryan refers to as their “same core principles.”
No one should be surprised by Ryan’s choice. Over the past quarter-century—from the days when he packed his Ayn Rand books and headed for Washington to become an aide to Wisconsin Republican Senator Robert Kasten—Ryan has put party loyalty first. Yes, Ryan and Trump have some stylistic differences; the speaker is closely aligned with Wall Street interests and corporate donors, while Trump has positioned himself as something of a populist.
But even as he has occasionally distanced himself from the billionaire’s most extreme expressions of xenophobia and bigotry, Ryan has repeatedly stated that he intends to support the Republican nominee this year.
And, on a final note, here’s Eugene Robinson’s take on the meeting:
Save us all the faux drama. We already know how this star-crossed courtship is going to end: House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) will decide that Donald Trump isn’t such an ogre after all, and they’ll live unhappily ever after.
Ryan will be unhappy, at least. Trump has stolen his party, and there’s nothing Ryan can do in the short term to get it back.