washington<u+2014>house speaker paul ryan (r., wis.) on monday confronted the most intense conflict of his speakership after saying he could no longer defend donald trump <u+2019>s candidacy for president and wouldn<u+2019>t campaign with the republican nominee. the decision, detailed in a conference call with republican lawmakers, underscored the rising stakes of the 2016 campaign. the 46-year-old speaker, who didn<u+2019>t rescind his endorsement of mr. trump, said his goal was to maintain republican control of the house. but as a leader he carries an even bigger burden in helping to shape the future of the party itself. since the release days ago of a 2005 video showing the presidential nominee talking about kissing and groping women without their consent, mr. ryan has been in a unique predicament. capital journal is wsj.com<u+2019>s home for election 2016 news. he must deal with a rising populist wing that eschews traditional republican policies, such as free trade, and is suspicious of members with long legislative experience. he must manage hard-line conservatives who have already demonstrated their power by ousting his predecessor, john boehner. and he must articulate a limited-government philosophy in a campaign in which limiting the nation<u+2019>s debt has become an afterthought. the episode also leaves mr. ryan alone among leaders in making so distinct a break with the party<u+2019>s nominee. mr. trump<u+2019>s running mate, gov. mike pence of indiana, has stuck with him . republican national committee chairman reince priebus on monday told the party to stay in line behind mr. trump. on monday, the most visible threat to the speaker came from his populist flank, which figures to have more power next year if republicans lose seats in the house. mr. ryan told republicans on the conference call that they should make their own decision about whether to maintain their support for mr. trump in light of the 2005 video release. one by one, republicans lined up in a phone queue to tell mr. ryan that he was undercutting mr. trump just four weeks from election day. the lawmakers complained that mr. ryan caved in too easily in the face of battle and accused him of conceding to democratic nominee hillary clinton. <u+201c>i expressed my outrage that a republican leader was undermining a republican candidate for president,<u+201d> said rep. dana rohrabacher of california. <u+201c>what i heard seemed to be setting us up for a loss to hillary, which isn<u+2019>t necessarily the case at all.<u+201d> motivating mr. ryan is a set of worsening polls for republicans. mrs. clinton, in a new wall street journal/nbc news survey, jumped to an 11-point lead over mr. trump, 46% to 35%, among likely voters on a ballot including smaller-party candidates. the survey was taken over the weekend, after the videotape was released but before sunday night<u+2019>s second presidential debate. in the survey last month, mrs. clinton had a 6 percentage point lead in a four-way contest. more worrisome for the speaker: the poll found that democrats<u+2019> advantage on the question of which party should control congress widened to 7 percentage points from 3 points last month. explaining why he wouldn<u+2019>t be defending mr. trump, mr. ryan himself said he would spend his energy until election day making sure that if mrs. clinton were elected, she wouldn<u+2019>t be given a <u+201c>blank check<u+201d> with a democratic-controlled congress, according to someone on the call. <u+201c>the speaker is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities,<u+201d> said ashlee strong, a spokeswoman for mr. ryan. mr. ryan didn<u+2019>t call for mr. trump to drop out of the race, as some senators have, and he didn<u+2019>t say he would campaign against him, only that he wouldn<u+2019>t campaign for him. the nominee nonetheless took it as an assault. <u+201c>paul ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting republican nominee,<u+201d> mr. trump tweeted after mr. ryan<u+2019>s position became public. mr. trump<u+2019>s attacks on mrs. clinton during sunday<u+2019>s town-hall debate appeared to have halted the weekend exodus of gop lawmakers who had withdrawn their support from the nominee. but republican lawmakers and aides said they were still nervous that more damaging material about mr. trump could surface. they are aware that their prospects of keeping control of the senate and house are tightly interlaced with mr. trump<u+2019>s fate. if democrats retain the presidency, they would need to win four senate seats to take control of that chamber, and would need to win a net of 30 seats to gain control of the house. <u+201c>this isn<u+2019>t rocket science<u+2014>the better donald trump does, the better our party does,<u+201d> one republican lawmaker told mr. ryan on the call. mr. ryan said he wasn<u+2019>t abandoning mr. trump but was instead focused on the house, according to a person on the call. some republican participants on the call defended mr. trump and called for unity, according to a gop aide. not everyone rejected mr. ryan<u+2019>s strategy. rep. charlie dent (r., pa.) was on the call and made the argument that mr. trump was bad for the party. mr. ryan and his allies have already prepared for the possibility that republicans would need to rebuild the party in the event of heavy losses in the elections. around the country, mr. ryan has been promoting his <u+201c>better way<u+201d> agenda, including striking the affordable care act and replacing it with a new plan. but those plans would take time to enact into law even with republicans in control of both chambers and the white house. meanwhile, mr. ryan risks triggering a personal fight with a man who is known for them. earlier this year, when mr. ryan still hadn<u+2019>t decided whether to endorse mr. trump, the gop candidate described what could be in store for the house speaker should the two have disagreements. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m sure i<u+2019>m going to get along great with him,<u+201d> mr. trump said in march. <u+201c>if i don<u+2019>t, he<u+2019>s going to have to pay a big price.<u+201d> write to siobhan hughes at siobhan.hughes@wsj.com and kristina peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com
rebuff of donald trump puts paul ryan in a bind - wsj
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