Speaker Paul Ryan is not a gambling man.
The Republican from Wisconsin says he wouldn’t risk a wager on Donald Trump winning the general election in November, despite the presumptive nominee’s insistence that he can unify the GOP and the country to bring his party a win. “I’m not a betting man,” Ryan told Politico‘s Off Message podcast.
But he went on to say the Republican Party could yet take the White House. “I think if we get our party unified, and if we do the work we need to do to get ourselves at full strength, and if we offer the country a clear and compelling agenda that is inspiring, that is inclusive, that fixes problems, that is solutions-based and based on good principles, then, yes, I think we can win.”
The statement follows Ryan’s statement that he was not “ready” to back Trump as the nominee—a sentiment that still stands, according to the Politico interview, even after the two Republicans met in Washington.
“When people go to the polls in November, they are not just picking a person … they’re also picking a path,”he said. “I very much believe in a type and style of politics that may not be in vogue today but, I still think, nevertheless, is the right kind of politics.”
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