Party politics

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Donald Trump wants to win the White House in the fall. Paul Ryan wants to save his vision of the Republican Party for years to come.

Those goals put Trump and Ryan increasingly at odds over both tone and substance as the businessman barrels toward the GOP presidential nomination. While Ryan is appealing for political civility and a party rooted in traditional conservative principles, Trump is bucking campaign decorum and embracing policy positions that are sharply at odds with years of GOP orthodoxy.

Their starkly different visions for the Republican Party are a microcosm of the broader fissures roiling the GOP. And if Trump does become the Republican nominee, he and the House speaker’s ability to work together could be the first test of whether a party in this much turmoil can stay together.

“Trump’s obviously running on issues that are contrary to conservatives and at odds with what a lot of what Paul Ryan believes,” said Peter Wehner, a former adviser to President George W. Bush.

For now, Trump and Ryan are engaged largely in a cold war, with the politicians only occasionally mentioning each other by name. Ryan has picked key moments to draw implicit contrasts with Trump, including condemning the billionaire’s refusal to take responsibility for violence at his rallies. Trump will launch the next volley today when he campaigns in Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wis., ahead of the state’s April 5 primary.

Trump, in his trademark contradictory style, has both praised Ryan and ominously warned the speaker against crossing him.

“Paul Ryan, I don’t know him well, but I’m sure I’m going to get along with him, and if I don’t, he’s going to have to pay a big price, OK?” Trump said after his victories on Super Tuesday. A week later, after speaking with Ryan by phone, Trump said of the speaker: “I like him a lot. I respect him a lot.”

People close to Ryan say the Wisconsin lawmaker is in disbelief about Trump’s staying power. Though he’s publicly vowed to support whomever his party nominates, Ryan has privately said he’s focused on trying to keep the GOP’s House majority this fall and on fundraising for the party – leaving some friends with the impression that he would be a less-than-enthusiastic Trump backer in a general election.

Looming large are Ryan’s own political ambitions. He passed on running for the White House in 2016, but some Republicans still harbor hopes that he could emerge as the nominee in a convention fight this summer if neither Trump nor Ted Cruz clinch the nomination by then.