Donald Trump's latest controversy regarding his refusal to deny support from David Duke and white supremacist groups on CNN's State of the Union this Sunday hasn't made much of a dent in the Republican frontrunner's surging lead. As a result, the GOP establishment is grasping at threads to win the nomination and preserve its reputation. And that doesn't just include Trump's Republican presidential rivals.
Paul Ryan does not unusually comment on the presidential race; however, due to Trump's infamy—and expectation that he will win nearly all states—the House Speaker decided to weigh in.
"Today I want to be very clear about something," announced Ryan. "If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there can be no evasion and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people's prejudices. We appeal to their highest ideals. This is the party of Lincoln. We believe all people are created equal in the eyes of God and our government."
Watch Paul Ryan defend the Republican Party:
Bear in mind, this is the same Speaker Paul Ryan who just four months ago told Face The Nation that working with Obama on the issue of immigration reform is a “ridiculous notion" given that he believes "we simply cannot trust" the current president on this issue. Instead, Ryan suggested we should work towards "reaching consensus on border and interior enforcement security" just after he began the conversation by expressing a desire to "give people the freedom and opportunity they deserve." So which people exactly?
Huffington Post also reported today that House Republicans will take great steps to block deportation relief for millions of undocumented immigrants. In fact, every Republican presidential candidate has vowed to end Obama's deportation relief programs, including one already in effect for young people who came to the U.S. as children, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Make no mistake: While Trump has spent nearly his entire campaign making headlines for wildly offensive statements, Ryan told CNN as recently as Thursday, "I've said 100 times we're going to be able work with whoever our nominee is, we're going to be able to present a unified front. That's my anticipation -- whoever the nominee is going to be."
Because with such mutual dislike for Obama, who knows what's possible. After all, border and interior enforcement security could very well mean building a wall.
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