Amid the convulsions triggered by his recent comment that he was “not ready” as yet to support Donald Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Monday that he would readily step down as chairman of the Republican National Convention if the presumptive nominee wanted him to do so.
“He (Trump) is the nominee. I’ll do whatever he wants with respect to the convention,” Ryan said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the largest newspaper from his home State of Wisconsin.
Significantly, Ryan also ruled out support for a third-party or independent bid by conservatives, saying it would be “a disaster for our party”.
He also gave Trump “a ton of credit for an amazing achievement” even as a group of anti-Trump conservatives has been actively considering fielding a candidate in a bid to defeat both Trump and likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Ryan and Trump are slated to have a meeting on Thursday, organised by Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus.
The Speaker’s latest comments, appearing to suggest that he may opt to fall in line on Trump’s candidacy, came a day after the New York billionaire said in a television interview that he was “blindsided” by the Speaker’s stance.