http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/282958-ryan-under-gop-fire-for-trump-remarksRyan under GOP fire for Trump remarksBy Alexander Bolton and Scott Wong - 06/10/16 06:00 AM EDT
Speaker Paul Ryan’s handling of Donald Trump is coming under criticism from Senate Republicans, many of whom prefer the way their leader, Mitch McConnell, deals with the unconventional candidate.
McConnell, the Senate majority leader from Kentucky, has steadfastly declined to call Trump's criticism of a federal judge “racist,” a term that Ryan pointedly deployed.
“It sets up journalists to ask, ‘Do you agree with Paul Ryan that it was racist?” said an aide to a vulnerable GOP senator
Trump set off a firestorm last week by claiming that a Mexican-American federal judge handling a lawsuit against Trump University was biased because of his heritage.
Republican lawmakers on both sides of the Capitol swiftly expressed strong disapproval but Ryan ratcheted up the criticism significantly by calling it “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”
Ryan’s remarks quickly became a Democratic talking point used to batter vulnerable Senate Republican incumbents.
“This morning, Ryan called Donald Trump’s attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel the ‘textbook definition of racism.’ Will Johnson join Ryan in calling out Trump’s racism?” American Bridge, a Democratic-allied communications group, asked in a press release targeting Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), one of the chamber’s most endangered incumbents.
The group sent out similar releases pressing Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John McCain (Ariz.), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Pat Toomey (Pa.) to condemn Trump’s action as “racist.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Wednesday sent an email to reporters highlighting a Tampa Bay Times article in which three Republican Senate candidates declined to go as far as Ryan.
“Even though high-ranking Republicans like House Speaker Paul Ryan have condemned Donald Trump’s comments on the Trump University Judge as racist, Florida Senate candidates Carlos Beruff, Ron DeSantis and Carlos Lopez-Cantera avoided going that far,” the Senate Democrats’ political arm wrote.
One GOP senator said he and his colleagues are more upset with Trump’s lack of discipline, which has forced them to play defense instead of talking about the weak economy.
At the same time, the senator added, “nobody was happy with Paul.”
Another Republican senator was more diplomatic: “If he could have gotten his point across without being so definitive and giving Democrats fodder for people lower on the ticket, that would have been good.”
Senate Republicans won’t criticize Ryan publically because they don’t want to pick a fight with the top-ranking House Republican and or be seen as defending Trump’s comment, which many thought was dumb.
But they have concerns about whether Ryan is thinking enough about how his actions affect the party’s chances of keeping control of the Senate.
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said her boss did what he thought was right.
“He was asked a question and answered honestly. He’s always said he’ll speak out when warranted,” she said.
Some Senate Republicans acknowledge that Ryan’s direct condemnation of Trump may prove helpful down the road if they get the unpredictable candidate to think twice before spouting a race-based critique.
“Maybe he was trying to get his attention. Maybe he was trying to get through his thick skull,” said a Senate Republican.
Still, a third Senate Republican critical of Ryan’s remarks said the use of a “charged” and “emotional” term wasn’t the best move.
“His comments poured gasoline on the fire and put every Republican in an incredibly uncomfortable position. It was entirely avoidable,” another Senate GOP aide told The Hill on Tuesday.
McConnell has bent over backwards to avoid giving Democrats any ammo to use against vulnerable colleagues — even if it sometimes makes for awkward media appearances.
During a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” McConnell was asked three times if Trump’s comments were racist and each time refused to use that term.
“I couldn’t disagree more with a statement like that,” he said instead.
The Senate GOP leader dodged again when reporters in the Capitol pressed him Tuesday on Ryan’s use of the word “racist.”
“I was asked over the course of the last week on numerous occasions to express myself on various utterances of our nominee. And I have done that. And unless there was some new comment today, I don't have anything to add,” McConnell said stoically.
His answer left reporters frustrated but won kudos from his colleagues.
“Mitch’s answer was textbook,” beamed on Republican senator, discussing his appearance on “Meet the Press.”
CNN’s Erin Burnett asked McConnell in an interview if Ryan went too far in calling Trump’s comments racists.
But McConnell declined to criticize, reflecting the broader feeling in his caucus that the GOP has been too consumed by infighting this year.
“I’m not going to critique the Speaker. I can speak for myself and I have spoken for myself,” he said. “I have listed all of last week every occasion upon which I differed with Donald Trump, particularly attacking people on the basis of their ethnicity — totally inappropriate.”
Ryan made his comments Tuesday at an event devoted to highlighting Republican proposals to combat poverty. He emphasized his shared ground with Trump on various issues and argued “we have more likelihood in getting our policies enacted with him that we do with” Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), a Trump surrogate, did not fault Ryan for his sharp criticism of the candidate but urged the national media to move on to other issues, such as the need to reform Washington.
“As the Speaker has indicated, the concerns raised by those comments are legitimate and we share those concerns,” he said.
“I respect everyone’s opinion, how they deal with Donald Trump, how they respond to Donald Trump and what they have to offer from that perspective,” he added. “I let them speak for themselves.”
