Trump attacks

When Trump attacks, Ryan goes silent

The speaker has adopted a policy of total disregard for the Republican nominee, rarely even uttering the word 'Trump.'

By Rachael Bade and John Bresnahan

Donald Trump just accused Paul Ryan of sabotaging his campaign in order to bolster his own 2020 White House ambitions — an astonishing charge of subterfuge against the nation’s top elected Republican.

Ryan’s response? Silence.

Ever since Ryan distanced himself from the top of his party’s ticket one week ago, a frustrated and reeling Trump has lashed out at the Wisconsin Republican on a near-daily basis. Ryan has become one of Trump’s favorite targets. Yet instead of parrying the attacks and defending himself, the speaker has deployed a strategy of complete disregard: pretend he can’t hear the loudest guy in politics and focus solely on protecting his suddenly fragile House majority.

When Trump jeered that he was a “weak leader,” Ryan didn’t make a peep. During a town hall with college Republicans last week, Ryan didn’t utter Trump’s name once. And as Trump knocked Ryan during a stop in Wisconsin on Monday, saying “maybe [he] just doesn’t know how to win,” the speaker was heading to Texas to help vulnerable incumbents stave off defeat.

“[Ryan] doesn’t throw bombs, doesn’t engage in name-calling,” said Kurt Bauer, president of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, an influential business group in the state. “He’s a policy wonk; he wants to focus on the issues. I think people respect that.”

While some applaud Ryan for being the “bigger man,” not everyone is happy with his deflect-and-move-on approach. When Trump first began trolling Ryan recently, a senior Republican ally of Ryan’s told Politico he wished the speaker would explain publicly why he distanced himself from Trump and why he’s letting Trump’s barbs go unanswered.

“I’m hearing from a lot of grass-roots people out there they are mad at Paul because they think he did ‘dump Trump,’” the Republican said. “I don’t know why Paul is not out there telling his side of the story. I think it’s hurting him.”

Another GOP lawmaker and strong Ryan backer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Trump’s continual bashing of the speaker means little inside the Capitol but could play among the activist right.

“This is all about Trump trying to hurt [Ryan] with the base and donors,” said the lawmaker. “If Trump isn’t going to win, then he’s going to try to make sure Paul can’t be the nominee in 2020.”

Of course, responding to Trump would probably exacerbate the highest-profile intraparty feud of 2016. Ryan is plainly not keen on spending the final weeks of the campaign in a public food fight with a guy who loves nothing more than dishing out insults.

It’s unclear, however, how long Ryan can remain silent. Although only a handful of House Republicans seem upset with Ryan over his break from Trump, and the drama is almost certainly not going to affect his position as speaker, the disagreement appears to have turned off Trump-supporting donors. GOP sources told Politico some contributors have declined to attend fundraisers with Ryan because of his actions, though few if any have gone on record saying so.

Pressure could also intensify on the speaker to challenge Trump’s regular claims that the election is “rigged” against him, which most mainstream Republicans believe is wrongheaded and dangerous. Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid tried to do just that on Monday, calling on Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to repudiate Trump’s suggestion of election fraud.

“When a major party’s nominee riles up his supporters and repeats the lie that the election is ‘rigged,’ the failure of Speaker Ryan and Senator McConnell to affirm the fairness of our democratic process and condemn Donald Trump’s comments is complicity,” Pelosi and Reid said in a letter. Ryan’s spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, had said in a statement over the weekend that “the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity.”

Trump and his allies have shown little interest in a truce with Ryan, despite numerous calls by top Republicans across the country telling the campaign to leave the speaker alone.

Ryan has always had a no-drama reputation. During news conferences with reporters, he regularly sighs in annoyance when reporters ask him about Trump’s latest comments. And while he occasionally chimes in on Trump’s most controversial pronouncements, Ryan always pivots quickly back to policy.

It’s no different than what he’s doing now, said a source familiar with Ryan’s current approach to the Trump drama.

“Ryan is focusing on what he can control — raising funds and bringing attention and enthusiasm to our congressional races,” the source said. “When he’s out on the road, he constantly touts the ideas and solutions House Republicans put down on paper with the ‘Better Way’ agenda.”

Ryan has zeroed in on House elections the past two weeks, working to insulate his 246-person majority from Trump-inflicted collateral damage. He's been campaigning in Texas this week for House members, and will be in Florida on Wednesday doing the same. A trip out West is expected next week.

But don't expect him to address the "elephant in the room," as Ryan has referred to Trump several times recently. More likely the speaker will continue to hit Democrats and act like Trump's not there.

“This is the nightmare scenario facing our country right now: If Hillary Clinton wins and sweeps in a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate, she will have the same kind of open-field running that Barack Obama had in those first two years,” Ryan said in a radio interview last week, when all the buzz was about whether he'd talk about Trump.

At times, Ryan's team how shown some sensitivity to the Trump attacks. On Sunday night, Trump chided Ryan on Twitter for criticizing him but saying little about an alleged "quid pro quo" between a Clinton aide and the FBI concerning her emails. The next morning, Ryan's office issued a statement blasting Clinton aides for pressuring the FBI and comparing the whole situation to a “cover-up.”

Yet just a few hours later, Trump was back at hitting Ryan. When he was asked on ABC's "Good Morning America" whether Ryan sincerely wants him to win the election, Trump answered, “Maybe not, because maybe he wants to run in four years.”

Ryan’s office, unsurprisingly, declined to comment.