the freedom caucus is prepared to live with paul ryan, at least for now. in an abrupt reversal after weeks of veiled threats that they might try to take him out, the group of 40 staunch conservatives now appears almost certain to get behind the speaker for another term. story continued below even more surprising? ryan has donald trump to thank. a handful of the group<u+2019>s top agitators told politico in interviews they<u+2019>re more interested in ensuring a prolific start to trump's presidency than starting an intra-party leadership fight that detracts from their mission of enacting conservative priorities. and after trashing ryan a month before the election as a <u+201c>weak and ineffective leader," the president-elect seems ready to move on. white house by shane goldmacher <u+201c>the most pressing priority for many of the house freedom caucus members is accomplishing significant things in the first 100 days [of a trump administration],<u+201d> said freedom caucus co-founder mark meadows, who campaigned with trump in his home state of north carolina. <u+201c>to focus on [challenging] leadership <u+2014> as long as that leadership is extremely supportive of the trump administration <u+2014>would be a misplaced effort.<u+201d> a number of house freedom caucus members will probably still vote against ryan in a secret-ballot election of house republicans on tuesday. but the group isn't plotting his demise at this point, caucus sources say. and that, in and of itself, is a very promising sign for ryan. the group's shift, ironically, comes as ryan is perhaps most vulnerable. after ryan criticized and kept his distance from trump for much of the campaign, the president-elect could easily summon the votes to boot ryan from the speakership. in fact, several house republicans told politico over the past 48 hours that if trump calls for ryan to step aside, they would feel pressured to vote against him <u+2014> namely because their constituents overwhelmingly voted for trump. but trump so far has signaled a willingness to forgive. the president-elect was cheerful and complimentary as ryan showed him around the capitol on thursday. should that change, freedom caucus insiders said their intention to lay down their arms against gop leadership will as well. by nolan d. mccaskill <u+201c>if there is a pushback [from gop leadership] saying, <u+2018>well, we can<u+2019>t do this [trump proposal],' or <u+2018>i have a different priority,<u+2019> then they will be met with a very strong reaction,<u+201d> said meadows, who is running to lead the freedom caucus next year. <u+201c>if there is any impediment to accomplishing what president-elect trump and vice president-elect mike pence want to accomplish in the first 100 days, there will be a number of us in the hfc and outside the hfc who are willing to say: wait a minute.<u+201d> freedom caucus members aren<u+2019>t the only ones apparently ready to give ryan a pass. trump ally sean hannity of fox news walked back his election night declaration that ryan will not be speaker next year, following up on twitter that it was up to trump and congress whether to keep ryan around. gop insiders have also noticed that breitbart, the <u+201c>alt-right<u+201d> news site that backs trump and savaged ryan all year <u+2014> and whose former leader, steve bannon, is a top trump adviser<u+2014> has laid off the speaker since the election. count the freedom caucus turnabout on ryan as another one of the countless ways trump upended washington overnight. the group<u+2019>s raison d'<u+00ea>tre is to drive gop leaders batty <u+2014> er, further to the right <u+2014> and threatening mutiny when they don<u+2019>t get their way. just last week, a number of the group<u+2019>s core members met in washington to plot how to extract concessions from ryan. they want to decentralize power from leadership to rank-and-file members like themselves. a source in the room said a possible challenge to ryan wasn<u+2019>t ruled out, though other caucus members were never keen on trying to topple the second speaker in barely a year. 2016 by annie karni but now, the freedom caucus is focused on passing bills, not power struggles. in a phone call with ryan wednesday, freedom caucus member ted yoho told the speaker he was probably in the clear to keep his gavel. the florida republican, who voted against ryan last year, might even get behind him now. <u+201c> i don<u+2019>t know of any credible threat [to ryan<u+2019>s speakership] right now,<u+201d> yoho said in an interview thursday. <u+201c>i talked to the speaker last night and told him i had no reason to vote against him at this point. i raised some of my concerns <u+2014> the [trans-pacific partnership trade deal], you know if that comes up, things like that. he assured me that it wouldn<u+2019>t come up.<u+201d> yoho called his conversation with ryan <u+201c>great<u+201d> and even plugged the speaker<u+2019>s <u+201c>better way<u+201d> policy agenda. <u+201c>you know what?<u+201d> yoho said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s just a whole different state of optimism.<u+201d> by michael grunwald by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz
freedom caucus poised to back ryan as speaker - politico
rachael bade heather caygle shane goldmacher nolan d. mccaskill annie karni michael grunwald