Donald Trump finally endorses Paul Ryan after a week of being 'not quite there yet'
Republican nominee Donald Trump finally endorsed House Speaker Paul Ryan at a rally in Ryan's home state of Wisconsin Friday night. Trump also endorsed Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), saying as president he will need "a Republican Senate and a House to accomplish all of the changes that we have to make."
Earlier this week, Trump criticized all three high-profile lawmakers, suggesting he felt no obligation to endorse despite leading their party. With Ryan specifically, Trump claimed he was "not quite there yet," directly mimicking Ryan's own turn of phrase in advance of endorsing Trump.
Meanwhile, Ryan said earlier on Friday his endorsement of Trump is not "a blank check" and "of course" there are circumstances under which he'd take it back. "I did say very clearly, privately and publicly, that if I hear things that I think distort conservatism, that disfigure our principles and our values as Republicans, I’m going to speak out and defend ourselves so that people in this country don’t get a mixed perception about who we are and what we believe in," Ryan explained, adding that he isn't sure exactly what line Trump would have to cross to cause him to back away.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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