So to sum up: Ryan finds Trump indefensible and won't actively support him ... but still wants him to be president. Ryan is affording himself the worst of both worlds: Trumpkins brand him a traitor while never-Trumpers won’t move past the fact that he refuses to actually pull his support from Trump.
But overall it underscores the fact that Ryan has held full weasel status for months now. Once Trump had secured the GOP nomination, Ryan went out of his way to say he wasn't ready to endorse the former reality TV star, saying that he first wanted Trump to unify the party and – wait for it – run a campaign that would allow Americans to "have something that they're proud to support and proud to be a part of." A month later, the speaker bent the knee to his party nominee, Trump having given precisely no indication that he was going to be a unifier or a source of national pride.
Ryan has stuck by Trump since, periodically issuing hollow condemnations when Trump did something egregious, such as picking a fight with a gold star family, but steadfastly refusing to walk back his endorsement.
Not that any of this has ameliorated Trump, who briefly refused to endorse Ryan in his August primary before finally doing so. And, of course, with Monday's kinda-sorta distancing, Trump has unloaded on the speaker as only he can:
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani warned that Team Trump "will remember" those who were disloyal, while campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson asserted that Trump supporters "all over the country" are preparing to vote for the former real estate developer but not the traitorous down-ballot GOPers.
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