U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan says it will take some time to forge “real unity” with presidential candidate Donald Trump, but he thinks Republicans will eventually be motivated by a desire to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“I think most Republicans at the end of the day are going to come to the conclusion that we’re really in the ‘Never Hillary’ camp,” Ryan said.
Clinton still faces a Democratic primary with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, though she holds a sizeable delegate lead.
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Ryan, of Janesville, met with Trump for the first time last week and said the two sides are “beginning the process of discussing what unity looks like in the Republican Party.” He said those talks will continue.
“Our teams are meeting next week to go over the deeper meaning of the policies that we’ve been talking about which come from the principles that we universally share as Republicans,” Ryan said.
Ryan declined to endorse Trump after he all-but-secured the nomination,although the speaker has had positive things to say about Trump in the days since they met.
“He is bringing new voters to the Republican Party by the millions, and that’s very impressive,” Ryan said. “What we want to make sure going forward is that we’re doing nothing but adding voters and not doing anything that subtracts voters.”
Ryan was scheduled to speak at a private GOP dinner Saturday night.
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