Donald Trump Doesn’t Make It Easy for Paul Ryan

“All of a sudden, he wants to be cute,” Donald Trump said at a rally in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday, on the subject of Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House. “But, you know, we’ll see.” The day before, Ryan had said that he was “not there right now” when it came to endorsing Trump for the Presidency. Not long before that, he had said that he would support his party’s nominee, whoever that might be. But by Friday that was presumptively, prohibitively Trump. Ryan, speaking to Jake Tapper on CNN about the “standards” that the standard-bearer would be expected to uphold, seemed to be trying to present himself as their clear-eyed, upright embodiment. Trump, talking about Ryan, sounded like the mob boss in a movie, mocking the young D.A. who, despite having made just a few compromises and looked the other way, thinks that he can draw a line somewhere—that he can say no when it really matters, and even lecture the old guy on morality. But Trump isn’t going to make it easy for Ryan to keep his dignity intact. It may be too late for that, anyway.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com

Related:
The Ghost of Jack Kemp
Is Donald Trump a Flip-Flopper or a Wily Politician?
Comment from the May 16, 2016, Issue