Trump Hits Back: ‘I’m Not Ready to Support Speaker Ryan’s Agenda’

After Donald Trump became the presumptive GOP presidential candidate on Wednesday, the endorsements came rushing in from all the corners of the party, including from Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, and Rick Perry.
Trump Hits Back: ‘I’m Not Ready to Support Speaker Ryan’s Agenda’
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a foreign policy speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., April 27, 2016. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
Jonathan Zhou
5/5/2016
Updated:
5/5/2016

After Donald Trump became the presumptive GOP presidential candidate on Wednesday, the endorsements came rushing in from all the corners of the party, including from Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, and Rick Perry. 

But not from House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said earlier today that he was “not ready” to endorse Trump. 

“I don’t want to underplay what he accomplished,” Ryan said in an interview on CNN.

But he added, “We hope that our nominee aspires to be Lincoln and Reaganesque,” and someone who “appeals to a vast majority of Americans.”

A few hours later, Trump struck back, delivering the mirror image of Ryan’s statement. 

“I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan’s agenda,” Trump said in a statement. “Perhaps in the future we can work together and come to an agreement about what is best for the American people. They have been treated so badly for so long that it is about time for politicians to put them first!”

Trump has strayed from Republican orthodoxy on a number of issues. In the day after essentially securing the GOP nomination, he expressed tacit support for raising the minimum wage, and has called for more infrastructure spending. 

Jonathan Zhou is a tech reporter who has written about drones, artificial intelligence, and space exploration.
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