Trump: Ryan 'Blindsided' Me

Palin says speaker might be 'Cantor-ed'
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 8, 2016 10:00 AM CDT
Trump: Ryan 'Blindsided' Me
Donald Trump speaks in Charleston, W. Va.   (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Donald Trump on Sunday said that Paul Ryan's statement that he couldn't yet support the GOP frontrunner came as a surprise. "I like Paul Ryan. I think he's a very good guy," he tells NBC News. "He called me three weeks ago, and he was so supportive. It was amazing. And I never thought a thing like this. I got blindsided by this." Trump, though, didn't sound all that worried ahead of a scheduled meeting with Ryan next week. "I'm not exactly sure what he has in mind, but that's OK." On ABC News, Trump mildly criticized Ryan—"he wants to be cute"—and said he didn't think it was necessary for the GOP to be unified. "I think it would be better if it were unified," he said. "There would be something good about it. But I don't think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense."

As House speaker, Ryan would be chairman of the Republican National Convention, and Trump stopped short of calling for him to step down from that role, notes the New York Times. But he didn't rule it out in the future, either. Trump supporter Sarah Palin, meanwhile, went much further, suggesting that Ryan might be "Cantor-ed," reports Politico, a reference to the election defeat of former speaker Eric Cantor. Palin even promised to campaign for a Ryan challenger in Wisconsin. “Paul Ryan and his ilk, their problem is they have become so disconnected from the people they were elected to represent,” she said. “Their problem is they feel so threatened at this point that their power, their prestige, their purse will be adversely affected by this change that is coming with Trump.” (More Donald Trump 2016 stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X