After weeks of acting noncommittal, Rep. Paul Ryan on Thursday officially announced what most people have long expected: that he will vote for Donald Trump. No one, even Paul himself, is likely surprised.
Last month, the House Majority Leader said he would wait until he was reassured of Trump’s commitment to conservative principles before actively endorsing him. According to his announcement, in an op-ed for his hometown paper, the Janesville Gazette, Rep. Ryan is now fully convinced.
Ryan’s rationale is simple: he sees Trump as a more likely legislative ally than Hillary Clinton. Ryan says that House Republicans plan to introduce an ambitious agenda that includes an overhauled tax code and an Obamacare alternative, as well as fiscal and foreign policy reforms.
Trump, says Ryan, has assured House Republicans that he is friendlier than Clinton in approving that agenda: “To enact these ideas, we need a Republican president willing to sign them into law….Through these conversations, I feel confident he would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people’s lives.”
But Ryan fell short of endorsing Trump. The statement also, probably not coincidentally, follows closely on news that unhappy Republicans have not found a suitable alternative to challenge their party’s presumptive nominee. He did manage to avoid giving Trump a “heads up,” according to reports, so at least he (temporarily) avoided the “I told you so” Trump speech (or worse, the Chris Christie treatment).
