Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan had their big meeting Thursday morning (along with Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus and other Republican leaders), and it came out seeming … not so big after all. But! After a meeting that was briefer than its advance publicity suggested, Trump and Ryan issued a “joint statement.”
The United States cannot afford another four years of the Obama White House, which is what Hillary Clinton represents. That is why it’s critical that Republicans unite around our shared principles, advance a conservative agenda, and do all we can to win this fall. With that focus, we had a great conversation this morning. While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground. We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal. We are extremely proud of the fact that many millions of new voters have entered the primary system, far more than ever before in the Republican Party’s history. This was our first meeting, but it was a very positive step toward unification.
So … Ryan’s staff wrote that up in advance, right? Because there is precious little Trump voice in there. For one thing, who believes that Trump is planning to take steps toward unification? No, that’s going to be all on Ryan, and both men know it. So all the talk about unifying is really talk about how much Ryan will allow himself to be absorbed into the Trump borg. Answer: still no real endorsement, but he knows it’s going to happen. Even this mealy-mouthed statement and whatever private discussion was behind it was good enough for Priebus, though:
Great! Positive! I swear! My enthusiasm is not at all forced!
Sure, guys.