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  • 2016-06-21 (xsd:date)
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  • Paul Ryan Confesses on National TV (en)
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  • On 19 June 2016, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, a Republican who currently serves as Speaker of the House and will be chairing the Republican National Convention in Cleveland from July 18–21, appeared on the Meet the Press public affairs program. During that appearance, Speaker Ryan was questioned at length by interviewer Chuck Todd about the possibility of a Dump Trump movement among Republicans that would seek to deny the Republican presidential nomination to Donald Trump at the convention despite Trump's having already secured enough delegates to guarantee a first-ballot win. Chuck Todd opened the segment of the program featuring Ryan with the following introduction: Ryan's response to Todd's questioning might have been somewhat confusing to viewers following the current campaign drama. Ryan had previously called Donald Trump a racist and denounced Trump's rhetoric and proposals, yet he endorsed Trump and has so far declined to rescind that endorsement. But at no time during that June 2016 Meet the Press interview did Ryan state that I don't care if Trump destroys the United States and that he is a liar and a fraud as long as we win in November (the image shown above reflects someone else's partisan summary of what he said), and Chuck Todd opened the program by declaring that Ryan was essentially giving fellow Republicans a permission slip to vote their conscience and run away from Trump if they have to. But what Ryan repeatedly maintained during that interview was that it was not his place (as Speaker of the House or RNC chairman) to attempt to take the nomination away from a candidate who had secured it under the party's existing rules and procedures; that he would opt (in Todd's words) to keep his party united [rather than] reject a presidential candidate whose values he does not share: Some pundits have contended that Ryan will not disavow or roll back his support for Trump (no matter how much he might dislike or disagree with Trump) because he wants to see the Republicans take control of the government, but that's a speculative interpretation of Ryan's state of mind, not something Ryan has openly stated: Interested viewers can watch the entire Meet the Press program in question here: (en)
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