2016 elections - because it's never too early

[Admiral Yi]

Yeah, I chuckled when I read that line.

What I'm hoping for and anticipating is some kind of symbolic anti-Trump gesture on the part of delegates.

[CountDeMoney]

What I'm hoping for and anticipating is some kind of symbolic anti-Trump gesture on the part of delegates.

What would that be?

[CountDeMoney]

Ryan: I have to support Trump
By Louis Nelson
POLITICO
06/19/16 09:02 AM EDT

House Speaker Paul Ryan says it's his responsibility to support Donald Trump, even if the presumptive Republican nominee's bombast occasionally makes him uncomfortable.

Ryan told Chuck Todd of NBC's "Meet the Press" that he feels an obligation as leader of the House Republicans to back Trump, warts and all. To do otherwise, he said, would divide the party and ultimately lead to a third consecutive Democratic victory in November's presidential election.

"I feel like I have certain responsibilities, as not just Congressman Paul Ryan from the 1st District of Wisconsin, but as speaker of the House," Ryan said in an interview that aired Sunday. "And imagine the speaker of the House not supporting the duly elected nominee of our party, therefore creating a chasm in our party to split us in half, which basically helps deny us the White House and strong majorities in Congress."

"The last thing I want to see happen is another Democrat in the White House," he continued. "I don't want to see Hillary Clinton as president. I want to see a strong majority in the House and the Senate. And I think the way to achieve those goals is to have a more unified party, than a disunified party."

As he has often done when pressed to respond to Trump's controversial rhetoric, Ryan framed his support for the presumptive nominee as the best way to ensure that his newly rolled-out slate of conservative policy proposals finds an ally in the White House. Ryan had hoped that those proposals, focusing on issues like poverty, national security and tax reform, would bring substance to the 2016 race. Thus far, Trump's bluster has kept Ryan's package of proposals from gaining much traction on the campaign trail.

Ryan refused to engage in hypotheticals when Todd asked whether he would feel the same responsibility to support Trump if he were not speaker of the House. Ryan, who will serve as chairman of the Republican National Convention next month in Cleveland, also declined to weigh in on the possibility of rules changes that could deny Trump the nomination by freeing delegates of their obligation to vote for him.

On gun control, the speaker warned against a rush to legislation that might infringe Americans' constitutional rights in the wake of the recent massacre in Orlando, Florida. Ryan said the House is paying attention to the ongoing debate over gun control in the Senate and also to warnings from the FBI to be careful that any new law banning suspected terrorists from purchasing a weapon does not end up interfering with terror investigations.

"Let's also not, in the haste of the moment, compromise a person's legitimate Second Amendment rights. And let's make sure that law enforcement has the tools they need to stop a person from getting a gun that they're not supposed to get a gun," Ryan said. "There are a lot of issues that needed attending to that deal with these violent actions. But taking away a legitimate, law-abiding citizen's Second Amendment rights, I don't think is the right move to make."

[Admiral Yi]

What would that be?

I can think of a number of things: turning their backs on Trump, booing while he talks, walking out, voting for Mitt Romney.  Maybe a little preamble during the roll call vote: "the great state of X casts its vote for the short-fingered vulgarian."

[CountDeMoney]

What would that be?

I can think of a number of things: turning their backs on Trump, booing while he talks, walking out, voting for Mitt Romney.  Maybe a little preamble during the roll call vote: "the great state of X casts its vote for the short-fingered vulgarian."

The whole "we don't like him but we don't like Hillary more" attitude thing doesn't seem to be working--and acting out at the convention is only to going to magnify things, since the most important thing to Beat The Bitch is "to have a more unified party, than a disunified party."   That would really put a damper on the Convention.

[Monoriu]

Yeah, I chuckled when I read that line.

What I'm hoping for and anticipating is some kind of symbolic anti-Trump gesture on the part of delegates.

I thought being a delegate means you have to act the part as well?  Like chanting Trump, giving favourable statements, kissing his ring, saying he is the best person to be president etc.  The voters picked him.  So the delegates have to vote for him and say good things about him out of duty and party loyalty. 

[LaCroix]

there some dissent in the ranks. paul ryan mentioned he won't force anyone to vote if it goes against his conscience, and there's a small movement that has clung on to that remark. what I've been trying to figure is whether ryan's comment was deliberate or innocent

[Barrister]

Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is out.  The long internal battle with campaign chairperson Paul Manafort is over, with Manafort winning.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/trump-campaign-corey-lewandowski-manager-224536

[derspiess]

*Now* Trump is done.

[Barrister]

*Now* Trump is done.

If anything this is a positive for Trump.  Lewandowski was way out of his depth and just enabled Trump to do whatever the hell he wanted to.

Manafort has some pretty big warts (all the dictators he lobbied for), but he is a professional.

[CountDeMoney]

*Now* Trump is done.

If anything this is a positive for Trump.  Lewandowski was way out of his depth and just enabled Trump to do whatever the hell he wanted to.

Right, because his daughter and son-in-law are such seasoned pols, and are going to be the only people left he listens to.

[FunkMonk]

Trump put Crazy Lewandowski to the sword, giving Paul KGB Manafort supreme command of his bannermen. KGB will hopefully rally the armies and march on Cleveland in good order soon. Pope Priebus awaits his champion, after all.

[FunkMonk]

*Now* Trump is done.

I don't think so. This is all part of The Master Plan.

[Legbiter]

*Now* Trump is done.

I don't think so. This is all part of The Master Plan.

Yeah, just his regular A/B testing now that he's out of the primary circus. 

[garbon]

*Now* Trump is done.

I don't think so. This is all part of The Master Plan.

Trump has a plan?