Yesterday House Speaker Paul Ryan threw elbows toward the successful insurgent candidacy of Donald Trump by openly stating his refusal to support the presumptive nominee.
From a review of Mr. Trump’s statements in the aftermath of the Ryan commentary it appears no-one, including those closest to Paul Ryan, were anticipating the remarks.  Ryan was essentially stating an opinion that Donald Trump needed to change his positions and come to heel around the perspectives, opinions and policies of Ryan himself.

Obviously the position of Ryan, vis-à-vis demanding Trump acquiesce and rebuke his own platform, is a ridiculous assertion.  However, given the legislative priorities expressed by Speaker Ryan, fundamentally Ryan didn’t have much choice.  Yet the position of Mr. Trump is the stronger hand.  Indeed Donald Trump has campaigned against the entire construct of Ryan’s agenda – and he won.
From the most accurate interpretation of the events that followed Ryan’s remarks, Mr. Trump reached out to RNC Chairman Reince Preibus to state his strong disappointment at being blindsided by Ryan’s statement.   Preibus and Ryan are life-long friends since childhood in Wisconsin.


RNC-Head Preibus was immediately in a tenuous position between a candidate who has won the republican nomination, and the millions of voters who approve of his America First platform and policy positions, standing in direct opposition to the republican agenda of the Speaker of the House.

[WaPo] “I told Reince that I thought it was totally inappropriate what Paul Ryan said and thought it was good for me politically,” Trump said in a statement early Friday afternoon ahead of a political rally in Nebraska. “But Reince feels, and I’m okay with that, that we should meet before we go our separate ways. So I guess the meeting will take place and who knows what will happen.”

Candidate Donald Trump released the following statement which solidifies his position:

Obviously the larger reason for the support of Donald Trump from the American voter is entirely because they desire a rebuke to the disconnected Washington DC agenda represented by the policies of Speaker Ryan.
Donald Trump stating he is not going to change his positions when those policies and positions are directly those of the winning coalition of his support.   Trump isn’t going to change positions to suit the tender sensibilities of Ryan, and advance a legislative priority list that is fundamentally divergent from his own and that of the voters.
Essentially, loggerheads.
Reince Preibus then sets up a meeting between Donald Trump and Paul Ryan scheduled for next Thursday.

[Via AP]  In this cockeyed campaign year, though, the divide at the moment is between the country’s top two Republicans: the presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, a conspicuous holdout from the candidate’s bandwagon and a man once denounced by Trump for producing a “death wish” budget.
Trump the businessman’s “art of the deal” may get its first big test in the political world at an expected meeting next week with the speaker aimed at some version of common ground. It will bring together a sober, policy-driven, consensus-seeking conservative and a crowd-rousing improviser with indistinct ideology and a handful of core issues, several of them combustible.  (read more)

Listen to Donald Trump explain how he will NOT back down:

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In consequential terms this is the battle we have wanted since the Republican Party went full tilt in favor of a UniParty alliance in Washington DC.
Donald Trump enters the meeting representing the will of the people; Paul Ryan walks in representing the will of the Vichy Wall Street legislative class of Republicans.
The two entities, and the ideology which they are bound toward, are fundamentally opposed.  It’s not a simple matter of principle, it is entirely a matter of policy.
♦ TRADE – Paul Ryan supports increased globalization and the Trans-Pacific Trade Deal. Donald Trump direct opposes TPP and additionally wants to revisit all previous trade deals (NAFTA etc) which have compromised U.S. jobs and manufacturing.
♦ FOREIGN POLICY – Paul Ryan supports expansive U.S. military interventionism, nation building, and more military engagements.  Donald Trump directly opposes interventionist nation building and says all nations need to put their own skin in the game financially, and physically.
♦ IMMIGRATION – Paul Ryan supports comprehensive immigration reform to include “amnesty” (coded by “a pathway to citizenship”), and generous open-border immigration positions.  Donald Trump supports closed borders, tighter security, a Southern regional border wall, and the deportation of those here illegally.
♦ ISLAM – Paul Ryan supports the expanded import of Mid-East refugees and asylum seekers as well as generous immigration policies favorable to Islamic nations.  Donald Trump has proposed a temporary ban on refugee immigration until the security measures are in place to insure we do not import any immigrant with anti-western views/values (terrorists).
♦ BUDGETS – As chairman of the House Budget Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, and now as Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan passed multi-trillion spending bills without a federal budget, and passed Omnibus spending bills to avoid budgets.  Donald Trump demands a federal budget be constructed and regular budgetary order be followed as a matter of the highest priority.
♦ COMMON CORE – Paul Ryan supports the Wall Street (U.S. CoC initiatives) of expanded federal guidelines and mandates for education, and the withholding of federal education funds from any state that does not comply.   Donald Trump opposes Common Core education standards and wants the federal government removed from education mandates completely.
♦ SOCIAL SECURITY – Paul Ryan supports changes to SSI benefits and structural reform to raise retirement ages, lower the base-line provisions, and increase federal tax collections to change social security.  Donald Trump does not support changing Social Security sans the raising of the upper income tax cap to generate revenue.  Trump’s position is to grow the economy so that increased tax receipts can cover rising benefit needs.
These are a few of the policy issues of divergence.  You can see both Trump and Ryan are not even in the same ballpark.
Trump enters the meeting room with the voice of the majority, willing to tear down the system and apply the common sense reforms demanded by the electorate.  Speaker Ryan enters the room with the voice of the beltway GOPe determined to protect the status quo.
Epic.
This is the battle we’ve been waiting for.