October 10, 2016

Paul Ryan Won’t Defend Donald Trump—But Is Still Endorsing Him

“You all need to do what’s best for you and your district.”

Yuri Gripas/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Over the weekend dozens of Republicans condemned and abandoned Donald Trump, but Paul Ryan still seems to be hedging his bets. The House Speaker convened a conference call with Republicans in his caucus Monday morning to discuss the state of the GOP amidst the turmoil caused by leaked audio of Donald Trump describing how his celebrity status allows him to get away with sexually assaulting women. Per news reports, Ryan is now trying to distance himself from his party’s presidential nominee but is still standing by his plan to vote for Trump.

According to CNN, Ryan gave his blessing to House Republicans to either ditch Trump or to stay behind the GOP candidate, saying “you all need to do what’s best for you and your district.” It sounds as if Ryan has essentially given up hope that Republicans can defeat Hillary Clinton and win back the White House.

Ryan has expressed general discomfort with Trump throughout the campaign. After Trump went off against an Indiana judge, saying the judge’s Mexican heritage made him unfit to oversee a case against Trump University, Ryan called Trump’s statement the “textbook definition of a racist comment.” Yet Trump was Ryan’s racist, and the House Speaker campaigned for the GOP nominee. At the Republican National Convention this summer, Ryan said, “Only with Donald Trump and Mike Pence do we have a chance of a better way.” Even though he disinvited Trump to campaign with him in Wisconsin this weekend, saying he was “sickened” by the leaked video, Ryan is still planning to vote for the candidate he says he won’t  campaign for or defend.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate