Donald Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan have both admitted they aren’t ready to accept the other’s agenda. But Ryan isn’t the only powerful Republican hesitant, scared, or unwilling to accept the gregarious celebrity mogul as our standard bearer.
Jeb Bush, who previously signed a pledge to support the GOP nominee, has since announced that he will not be attending the convention in Cleveland this summer. Trump doesn’t seem to care. “I’m not a fan of Jeb and he said he was not going to come to the convention. Who cares? You know how many votes I’m gonna lose because of Jeb not coming to the convention? I think I’ll gain votes.”
2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who has been highly critical of both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, will also be absent this July. Rumor has it he’s being courted to run as an Independent, which in my opinion would do little more than ensure a Clinton victory. Romney, who has sided with the #NeverTrump movement, says he won’t be supporting “either of the major party candidates at this point.”
“I see way too much demagoguery and populism on both sides of the aisle, and I only hope and aspire that we’ll see more greatness,” he says, adding that he will not be entering the race as an Independent. “I’m certainly going to be hoping we find someone who I have confidence in who becomes the nominee.” Romney praised Paul Ryan for not supporting Trump, noting that he would love to see him run for president but that it is vital he remains Speaker during this turbulent time.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is in the same camp, saying he cannot “in good conscience” vote for Donald Trump. “I do not believe he is a reliable Republican conservative nor has he displayed the judgment and temperament to serve as Commander in Chief.” Trump and Graham has a spat last year after Trump gave out the Senator’s phone number and Graham retorted by calling him a “jackass” on CBS and posting a sarcastic “how to destroy your phone” video on Twitter.
Graham adds that he will not be attending this summer’s convention.
Speaker Paul Ryan is the sole “anti-Trump” Republican mentioned here who hopes to eventually support the billionaire candidate. “I’m not there right now and I hope to be there and I want to…the bulk of the burden of unifying the Party will have to come from our presumptive nominee.”
Trump replied to Ryan’s comment by saying virtually the same thing about the Speaker: “I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan’s agenda. Perhaps in the future we can work together and come to an agreement about what is best for the American people…”
Meanwhile, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has decided to broker a meeting between the two to help them “play nice.” The meeting is scheduled to take place this Wednesday in DC.