Trump Won't Endorse Paul Ryan Or John McCain

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump refused Tuesday to endorse the nation’s highest-ranking Republican official, stiff-arming House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.) just a week before Ryan’s primary against a tea party challenger.

Speaking to The Washington Post, Trump said he was still thinking about it, and seemed to deliberately mock Ryan by using words similar to the speaker’s from May, when he refused to back Trump by saying he wasn’t there yet.

“I like Paul, but these are horrible times for our country,” Trump told the paper. “We need very strong leadership. We need very, very strong leadership. And I’m just not quite there yet. I’m not quite there yet.”

Ryan did come around to Trump, and has stood by his endorsement even with each new Trump debacle, most recently The Donald’s insults of the parents of slain Muslim U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan.

Zack Roday, a spokesman for Ryan, said later in a statement that the Ryan campaign was not too worried about Trump.

“Neither Speaker Ryan nor anyone on his team has ever asked for Donald Trump’s endorsement,” Roday said. “And we are confident in a victory next week regardless.”

Trump also declined to endorse GOP Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) and John McCain (Ariz.). McCain, a former GOP presidential nominee, skipped Trump’s convention and criticized Trump’s attacks on the Khan family, even though he also is still standing by Trump. Trump’s latest words should have made for an interesting meeting Tuesday evening between McCain and vice presidential nominee Mike Pence. McCain’s primary is later this month. Ayotte’s is in September.

Ryan’s challenger, tea party-aligned businessman Paul Nehlen, was quick to pick up on Trump’s slight.