Trump, Ryan increasingly at odds over future of the GOP

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

Those goals put Trump and Ryan increasingly at odds over 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 at odds with years of GOP orthodoxy.

Their different visions for the Republican Party are a microcosm of the broader fissures roiling the GOP. And if Trump becomes 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.

Donald Trump

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, Wisconsin, before the state's April 5 primary.

Trump, in his contradictory style, has 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 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.

While he's publicly vowed to support whomever his party nominates, Ryan privately has 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 he would be a less-than-enthusiastic Trump backer in a general election.

Looming large are Ryan's political ambitions. He passed on running for the White House in 2016, but some Republicans harbor hopes the House speaker could emerge as the nominee in a contested convention fight this summer if Trump or rival Ted Cruz fails to accumulate the delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

"I would be less than honest with you if I said people are not mentioning a Ryan candidacy from time to time," said Rep. Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvania Republican who meets with Ryan.

"Clearly there are many in Congress who see Paul Ryan as a consensus candidate."

Ryan has vigorously denied he's interested, though he was similarly definitive last year when he rebuffed calls to run for the speaker's job. He also has insisted his role as chairman of the July convention requires him to remain officially neutral despite his obvious displeasure with Trump.

Yet Ryan's refusal to fully disavow Trump has left him open to criticism he either cares too much about keeping the real estate mogul's enthusiastic supporters in the Republican fold or that he doesn't fully understand the threat posed by the GOP front-runner.

"The barbarian is at the gate, and Paul Ryan wants to talk sense to him?" wrote David D. Haynes, the editorial page editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the largest newspaper in Ryan's home state.

Ryan has been working behind the scenes to produce plans on issues including health care, the economy and national security. Though not the original intent of Ryan's "agenda project," the effort could give Republicans something to run on if they can't or don't want to hitch themselves to the GOP nominee.

"I think what the American people are starved for is a positive agenda," said Rep Tom Price, R-Ga., chairman of the House Budget Committee and a close Ryan ally.

Trump's own policy proposals, though often vague, have sometimes sharply conflicted with where Ryan is trying to position the party, particularly on economic issues.

Ryan rose to prominence among Republicans for spending proposals that eventually would privatize government entitlement programs, dramatically reducing those operations' share of federal spending over time. While Trump has joined Republicans in bemoaning alleged abuses of entitlement programs, he's long blasted proposals like Ryan's.

"As Republicans, if you think you are going to change very substantially for the worse Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in any substantial way, and at the same time you think you are going to win elections, it just really is not going to happen," Trump said during a 2013 appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Trump has also spent decades criticizing U.S. trade policy and advocating steep tariffs on Chinese imports. It's a protectionist argument that puts him at odds with decades of Republican support for international trade, though he's in line with a growing contingent of House Republicans who see sweeping foreign trade deals as detrimental to American workers.

Before becoming speaker, Ryan was among the most vocal House Republicans in backing trade agreements, including President Barack Obama's Asia-Pacific pact. As speaker, Ryan has yet to schedule a vote on the Pacific Rim deal, saying he and other members are carefully vetting the details.

Despite their differences, some Ryan allies see policy as an area where Ryan could wield influence with Trump if the billionaire becomes the nominee or even president.

"Maybe it will dawn on (Trump) that he needs an actual agenda," Wehner said. "There's nobody better than Paul Ryan to supply it."