Trump tells @PhilipRucker he won't support Paul Ryan, John McCain in primaries

[Dereich]

After thinking about the implications of this a bit more: maybe Trump DOES have a plan here. Ryan is the clear, well-liked leader of the House Congressional Caucus. He's also the standard-bearer of the fiscally conservative wing of the GOP. McCain is a well-known Senator and former presidential candidate.

If they lost who would be the most vocal, well-known critic of Trump in the party? It wouldn't be anyone else from the House; Ryan's loss would throw the whole caucus into chaos. Mitch McConnell isn't popular or charismatic enough to oppose Trump and no other Senator is well-known enough to serve in that role. Eliminate Ryan and McCain and you basically eliminate all vocal Congressional opposition to anything Trump says.

[Speedy]

For being such an egotistical narcissistic bully, Trump scares pretty easily.

This is an historically common trait of narcissistic bullies in power, and often makes for the scariest of them all.

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

After thinking about the implications of this a bit more: maybe Trump DOES have a plan here. Ryan is the clear, well-liked leader of the House Congressional Caucus. He's also the standard-bearer of the fiscally conservative wing of the GOP. McCain is a well-known Senator and former presidential candidate.

If they lost who would be the most vocal, well-known critic of Trump in the party? It wouldn't be anyone else from the House; Ryan's loss would throw the whole caucus into chaos. Mitch McConnell isn't popular or charismatic enough to oppose Trump and no other Senator is well-known enough to serve in that role. Eliminate Ryan and McCain and you basically eliminate all vocal Congressional opposition to anything Trump says.

What's the point of any of them wanting to continue to be Republicans then? If I were one of them I would organize mass defections.

[Seriously?]

After thinking about the implications of this a bit more: maybe Trump DOES have a plan here. Ryan is the clear, well-liked leader of the House Congressional Caucus. He's also the standard-bearer of the fiscally conservative wing of the GOP. McCain is a well-known Senator and former presidential candidate.

If they lost who would be the most vocal, well-known critic of Trump in the party? It wouldn't be anyone else from the House; Ryan's loss would throw the whole caucus into chaos. Mitch McConnell isn't popular or charismatic enough to oppose Trump and no other Senator is well-known enough to serve in that role. Eliminate Ryan and McCain and you basically eliminate all vocal Congressional opposition to anything Trump says.

No. I'm pretty sure that Trump thinks that Ryan is an a-hole for engaging in #neverTrump activities and dragging his feet endorsing him when there was no further opposition at the time.

Ryan has opposition. Trump need not pick sides. Payback is a bitch in politics. What goes around comes around.

[MasterJedi]

After thinking about the implications of this a bit more: maybe Trump DOES have a plan here. Ryan is the clear, well-liked leader of the House Congressional Caucus. He's also the standard-bearer of the fiscally conservative wing of the GOP. McCain is a well-known Senator and former presidential candidate.

If they lost who would be the most vocal, well-known critic of Trump in the party? It wouldn't be anyone else from the House; Ryan's loss would throw the whole caucus into chaos. Mitch McConnell isn't popular or charismatic enough to oppose Trump and no other Senator is well-known enough to serve in that role. Eliminate Ryan and McCain and you basically eliminate all vocal Congressional opposition to anything Trump says.

No. I'm pretty sure that Trump thinks that Ryan is an a-hole for engaging in #neverTrump activities and dragging his feet endorsing him when there was no further opposition at the time.

Ryan has opposition. Trump need not pick sides. Payback is a bitch in politics. What goes around comes around.

He is well liked in the district and polling 75-90% against his far right opposition. Once he gets re-nominated hopefully he'll pull his endorsement from Drumpf.

[PeteB]

After thinking about the implications of this a bit more: maybe Trump DOES have a plan here. Ryan is the clear, well-liked leader of the House Congressional Caucus. He's also the standard-bearer of the fiscally conservative wing of the GOP. McCain is a well-known Senator and former presidential candidate.

If they lost who would be the most vocal, well-known critic of Trump in the party? It wouldn't be anyone else from the House; Ryan's loss would throw the whole caucus into chaos. Mitch McConnell isn't popular or charismatic enough to oppose Trump and no other Senator is well-known enough to serve in that role. Eliminate Ryan and McCain and you basically eliminate all vocal Congressional opposition to anything Trump says.

No. I'm pretty sure that Trump thinks that Ryan is an a-hole for engaging in #neverTrump activities and dragging his feet endorsing him when there was no further opposition at the time.

Ryan has opposition. Trump need not pick sides. Payback is a bitch in politics. What goes around comes around.

He is well liked in the district and polling 75-90% against his far right opposition. Once he gets re-nominated hopefully he'll pull his endorsement from Drumpf.

More than that.  Once he gets the nomination, I believe that Ryan will offer Trump a take it or leave it option:

1. Voluntarily withdraw, keep your dignity and business connections, and receive GOP protection from future Democratic retaliatory actions against Trump Corp.
2. Stay in, lose badly and see Trump Corp investigated and indicted for everything from Mafia links to illegal foreign nation dealings, plus become a pariah in NYC real estate circles and effectively destroy Trump Corp.

[dspNY]

After thinking about the implications of this a bit more: maybe Trump DOES have a plan here. Ryan is the clear, well-liked leader of the House Congressional Caucus. He's also the standard-bearer of the fiscally conservative wing of the GOP. McCain is a well-known Senator and former presidential candidate.

If they lost who would be the most vocal, well-known critic of Trump in the party? It wouldn't be anyone else from the House; Ryan's loss would throw the whole caucus into chaos. Mitch McConnell isn't popular or charismatic enough to oppose Trump and no other Senator is well-known enough to serve in that role. Eliminate Ryan and McCain and you basically eliminate all vocal Congressional opposition to anything Trump says.

No. I'm pretty sure that Trump thinks that Ryan is an a-hole for engaging in #neverTrump activities and dragging his feet endorsing him when there was no further opposition at the time.

Ryan has opposition. Trump need not pick sides. Payback is a bitch in politics. What goes around comes around.

He is well liked in the district and polling 75-90% against his far right opposition. Once he gets re-nominated hopefully he'll pull his endorsement from Drumpf.

More than that.  Once he gets the nomination, I believe that Ryan will offer Trump a take it or leave it option:

1. Voluntarily withdraw, keep your dignity and business connections, and receive GOP protection from future Democratic retaliatory actions against Trump Corp.
2. Stay in, lose badly and see Trump Corp investigated and indicted for everything from Mafia links to illegal foreign nation dealings, plus become a pariah in NYC real estate circles and effectively destroy Trump Corp.

If that's the deal i think trump rolls the dice and stays in. If the GOP sweetens it up with some money (like from a big donor) to buy him out, he'll quit

[PeteB]

After thinking about the implications of this a bit more: maybe Trump DOES have a plan here. Ryan is the clear, well-liked leader of the House Congressional Caucus. He's also the standard-bearer of the fiscally conservative wing of the GOP. McCain is a well-known Senator and former presidential candidate.

If they lost who would be the most vocal, well-known critic of Trump in the party? It wouldn't be anyone else from the House; Ryan's loss would throw the whole caucus into chaos. Mitch McConnell isn't popular or charismatic enough to oppose Trump and no other Senator is well-known enough to serve in that role. Eliminate Ryan and McCain and you basically eliminate all vocal Congressional opposition to anything Trump says.

No. I'm pretty sure that Trump thinks that Ryan is an a-hole for engaging in #neverTrump activities and dragging his feet endorsing him when there was no further opposition at the time.

Ryan has opposition. Trump need not pick sides. Payback is a bitch in politics. What goes around comes around.

He is well liked in the district and polling 75-90% against his far right opposition. Once he gets re-nominated hopefully he'll pull his endorsement from Drumpf.

More than that.  Once he gets the nomination, I believe that Ryan will offer Trump a take it or leave it option:

1. Voluntarily withdraw, keep your dignity and business connections, and receive GOP protection from future Democratic retaliatory actions against Trump Corp.
2. Stay in, lose badly and see Trump Corp investigated and indicted for everything from Mafia links to illegal foreign nation dealings, plus become a pariah in NYC real estate circles and effectively destroy Trump Corp.

If that's the deal i think trump rolls the dice and stays in. If the GOP sweetens it up with some money (like from a big donor) to buy him out, he'll quit

Some $$$ will always sweeten the pot with The Donald! 

BTW, getting back to the topic, Mike Pence just endorsed Ryan.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/03/politics/paul-ryan-paul-nehlen-donald-trump/

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

"You can endorse, it's ok! You can endorse, it's fine!"

[RINO Tom]

^ Haha, I might actually start to like free trader Mike Pence soon enough ... maybe he's trolling Trump (for the GOP) from within.

[Erich Maria Remarque]

In the year, when R-base/Independents hate establishment it actually might be a good move

Good. Trump should burn the GOP establishment to the ground whether he wins or loses.

Agree!

[Erich Maria Remarque]

The really funny thing is that if Ryan and McCain explicitly disavow Trump they'll look craven and self-centred as hell, because the optics will be that all the other crap that Trump says is OK, but not supporting their careers is a dealbreaker.

[IceSpear]

The old GOP is burning down to the ground. We can no longer pretend like this party is the party of Lincoln, Grant, Roosevelt, and Eisenhower. Now it's the party of Trump, Nehlen, Gohmert, and King.

Democrats started saying it wasn't the Party of Lincoln about 3 seconds after they finally acknowledged Lincoln was a good President.  Hold that view if you wish, but don't dramatize it like that, as liberals have been throwin' out that line for decades and decades.

I'm just curious...is there any possible limit the GOP could go to in order to lose your support?

What do you consider "support"?  I'm not supporting the Republican nominee for President.  I do not like our Democratic Senate nominee in Iowa, so I'll likely vote for Grassley.  I'm certainly voting for my Republican House candidate, as Loebsack is very, very liberal (though a very nice guy, my mom knows him).  In local races, I usually just pick the best Democrat and often vote for some Democrats over Republicans, as some of the Republicans who run for local stuff use their candidacy as a spotlight for social conservatism, and some local Democrats actually exercise pretty good fiscal restraint.

If you literally just mean my party registration, no I'll never change that.  If there comes a day where I'm like an inverse of an Oklahoma Democrat who votes straight ticket for the other party but continues to vote in the primaries of my original party, so be it.  I'll be the opposite of a Yellow Dog until the day I die, no matter how ridiculous keeping your ancestral registration seems to some.

Also, I think being an independent (especially in a state like Iowa) is just worthless and forfeiting your opportunity to influence one party's discourse.  For all the DLC talk, NO ONE in the Democratic Party is talking about lowering taxes for everyone.  No one is talking about scaling back wasteful spending.  No one is talking about cutting red tape regulations for businesses.  As deserted as I feel by my party, the other party is a worse vehicle for my politics.  At least we're talking about an outnumbered Never Trump Republican bloc like Baker and Kirk; people with their ideologies still exist in far greater numbers in the GOP than in the Democratic Party.  They (we?) just need to accept the fact that they're currently outnumbered in THEIR political party that they've belonged to for decades (important to remember) and need to fight to make their influence stronger.

Does Iowa have closed primaries? I can understand staying registered in that case, but it seems you'd still stay even if they were open. Is ancestral attachment the only reason, or is there more to it than that? It just seems odd to me. If radical communists or something seized the Democratic Party, I might stay registered since the primaries are closed here, but I'd certainly self identify as an independent (and re-register if there were open primaries.) It just seems odd to want to chain yourself into constantly defending, apologizing for, carrying water for, etc. a party that you disagree with on so much, even if you do agree on some things as well. I wouldn't want to put myself in the position of constantly having to do that in the hypothetical world where the Democratic Party is hijacked by radicals, it just seems like a waste of time and energy. I'd rather just not be associated with them at all.