Paul Ryan facing threats to speakership over Trump flap

Donald Trump broke away from “disloyal” Republican party leaders yesterday, pledging to campaign as he saw fit now that “the shackles have been taken off”.

Many Republicans are anxious his chaotic campaign could hurt their chances of holding majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in next month’s election, and will inflict long-term damage on the party.

Ryan essentially conceded defeat, saying he would devote his energy to ensuring Clinton doesn’t get a “blank check” as president with a Democratic-controlled Congress, according to people on his private conference call with GOP House members. This follows months of animosity between Ryan and Trump, who’ve gone back and forth, alternately stepping over each other’s lines in the sand like defiant children.

Several angry GOP members on that call pushed back at Ryan, arguing he should continue to stand strongly behind Trump.

When asked whether Trump’s remarks could hurt Indiana Republicans on Election Day, a spokesperson for state GOP Chair Jeff Caldwell only reiterated Caldwell’s statement from the weekend calling Trump’s comments “horrible and unacceptable”. The company services trucks for highway crews.

We genuinely hope that the Republican Party that fought for civil rights, produced some of our finest presidents and put patriotism before party can return after its leaders sift through the rubble of this election.

Such efforts have had mixed results so far, and it remains to be seen how much the new audio and video tape of Trump talking about groping and kissing women will change that.

Trump says he is building a “movement” of people who have been sold out by an establishment that has backed job-killing trade deals and does not care about illegal immigration. Walden urged them to poll frequently and warned that the path to victory for candidates in tight races resembled landing a plane in the fog with a hurricane blowing.

Trump erupted a day after Ryan told House Republicans he would no longer defend or campaign with the GOP nominee in the wake of the fallout over a tape in which Trump is heard making vulgar comments about women.

“And do you think they’ll cooperate with you trashing them?”

Trump, meanwhile, blasted the top Republican in Congress. Faced with a party revolt of his own making fewer than 30 days before the election, the Republican nominee lashed out at Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, among others, on Tuesday.

Podesta, while acknowledging the evidence was circumstantial, said the alleged ties could be driven either by Trump’s policy positions, which at times echo the Kremlin, or the Republican’s “deep engagement and ties with Russian interests in his business affairs”. That sparked a barrage of venomous tweets from Trump and warnings from some House Republicans that they might oppose the re-election of Ryan, R-Wis., as speaker.

Some lawmakers said party leaders should help Trump because down-ballot candidates like them would fare better if Trump lost narrowly to Democrat Hillary Clinton than if he was beaten resoundingly. “We need to all work together to raise the tide so that it floats all boats”, King said in an interview. “However, if he can’t prevent himself from panicking and helping the enemy in a situation like this, well, then we’ll find out”. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, where Trump has won over voters with a vigorous defense of the coal industry, said an endorsement from the billionaire would mean a lot.

Borges had just hung up with Trump when cleveland.com reached the chairman by telephone Wednesday morning.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a former 2016 Republican presidential contender who has became a close ally of Trump, also reaffirmed his backing, although he called Trump’s comments in the 2005 video “completely indefensible”.

At the very least, a Trump implosion that cuts deeply into Ryan’s majority could complicate the Speaker’s already tough task of corralling his volatile majority coalition.

Two newspapers reported late Wednesday that Trump’s actions went beyond words.