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Donald Trump Warned Paul Ryan About This

by Alexi McCammond

Donald Trump won big after the Indiana primary, both in votes and in successfully getting his opposing two candidates to drop out of the race completely. Since this victorious night for Trump, he has been named the presumptive GOP nominee, but that doesn't mean all prominent Republicans are hopping on the Trump Train. In fact, the Speaker of the House on Thursday told CNN's Jake Tapper that he is not yet ready to endorse Trump, even though he knew the consequences. This bold announcement brought up memories of when Trump warned Paul Ryan about not supporting him back in March.

Although House Speaker Ryan is a Republican, he made it clear that he is not obligated to support Trump as the Republican Party's presidential nominee. "At this point, I'm just not there right now ... We want a standard-bearer that bears our standards," Ryan told Tapper when asked about whether he will support Trump.

But, as Andrew Peng, executive editor at Byline, pointed out on Twitter, Trump warned Ryan months ago about what it would be like if he and the House Speaker didn't get along. “Paul Ryan, I don’t know him well, but I’m sure I’m going to get along great with him,” Trump said at an event in Palm Beach, Florida. “And if I don’t, he’s going to have to pay a big price.”

In just a few words Trump managed to successfully threaten the Speaker of the House in the most childish way. And he did it through the press! He didn't even confront Ryan himself. But whatever, I shouldn't expect maturity out of Trump, who defended his manhood during a presidential debate.

Trump was clearly anticipating the slew of Republicans who, despite his unexpected success throughout the presidential election thus far, simply would refuse to support him as their nominee. And this idea of party unity is exactly why Ryan said he is not ready to endorse Trump.

As of now, Ryan made evident that he hasn't seen Trump as unifying the Republican Party (and America) thus far, which is an issue. Before giving his blessing, Ryan told Tapper he would like to see Trump unite "all wings of the Republican Party and the conservative movement." That way, the American people will "have something that they're proud to support and proud to be a part of," rather than feeling divided because of their presidential candidate.

If Trump takes the first steps to becoming a more unifying presidential candidate, then perhaps Ryan will support him as the GOP nominee. But until then, he will face the wrath of The Donald who clearly is unhappy that anyone would ever disagree with him.