Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday didn’t disagree with House Speaker Paul Ryan’s decision to hold off on endorsing presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Last week, Ryan said he’s “not ready” to throw his support behind Trump.
“Before he jumps into things, he wants to know more about what to expect,” Walker said of Ryan Tuesday morning.
Some critics have said Ryan should have waited until after getting to know Trump better before addressing the topic of a possible endorsement. But Walker disagrees.
“It’s indicative of the Midwest, we tend to answer questions,” Walker said. “He didn't preemptively come out with this, it wasn't something he set out to announce. He just answered the question.”
Trump and Ryan will meet face to face on Thursday.
Walker was in Milwaukee speaking at the MMAC World Trade Association Wisconsin International Trade Conference.
Since Ryan’s statement, Trump surrogate and former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin has endorsed the Speaker’s GOP primary challenger Paul Nehlen.
But Walker said it’s Ryan who remains in touch with the Republican voters in his district.
“I think anyone who thinks he's vulnerable really doesn't spend a lot of time in the first congressional district,” Walker said.
“Somebody who mistakes the idea that, just because he's the Speaker, he's in Washington all the time, he's not.”
Mordecai Lee, a professor at UW-Milwaukee and former Democratic state lawmaker, said he doesn’t expect Ryan to lose to Nehlen in this summer's primary.
But he said GOP voters seem to be divided between so-called principled conservatives, like Ryan, and Trump, who hasn’t always held conservative positions on fiscal or social issues, but received significant support in the presidential primary.
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“I think people who consider themselves traditional conservatives – like Paul Ryan – are sort of startled and thinking, ‘Wait, is this still my party?’” Lee said. “So the GOP primary here in August becomes a showdown, a high noon, between Trump Republicans and conservative Republicans.”
Walker said he still plans to vote for Trump, but doesn’t know if he’ll go so far as to campaign for him.
“As I look at Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on a whole series of issues, on the Supreme Court, on taxes, on the size of the federal government, he’s better than she is,” Walker said. “But, to me, just saying someone's better might not warrant an aggressive, outright endorsement.”
“So in some ways, I'm similar to Paul Ryan's response,” Walker said. “My level of engagement in this election will be largely dependent on what I hear over the coming months.”
