Let me see if I can keep this straight.
Republican Party presidential nominee Donald J. Trump said just the other day he wasn’t ready to “endorse” House Speaker Paul Ryan in his bid for re-election. He also declined to endorse U.S. Sen. John McCain, who’s also in a tough fight for re-election. Same for U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
Then he went to Green Bay, Wis., yesterday and endorsed all three of them.
Ryan, McCain and Ayotte all have kept their distance from their party’s presidential nominee. They dislike many of his public statements about immigration, his proposed ban on Muslims and, oh, a lot of other things.
I’m wondering about the impact of these endorsements and whether it means that the individuals who got them from Trump — Ryan, McCain and Ayotte — now will make campaign appearances with him.
I’m guessing that Ryan won’t. Why? Well, his major challenge is coming from within his own party; he’s being challenged by a TEA Party insurgent who — interestingly, in my view — has drawn the endorsement from former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Ryan’s primary election is next week, if he dispatches the TEA Party fellow, then he’ll likely win re-election this fall.
But all three of these lawmakers have said some unkind things about their party’s presidential nominee. They are far from alone, particularly in the wake of the Democratic Party convention, during which Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has scored a significant post-convention “bounce” in many public opinion surveys.
I am not expecting McCain or Ayotte to campaign with Trump at their side. Or many other Republican officeholders. They’ve witnessed — along with the rest of us — how Trump handles these events. I trust they’ve watched Trump’s introduction of his own vice-presidential running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, and how Trump talked almost entirely about himself before handing the mic over to Pence.
They all have politicians’ egos that, in normal election cycles, would stand out. Not this year. Not when they have to share a stage with Donald J. Trump.