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Ryan And Trump Are Unified In Frenemyship

by Emily Shire

After their meeting on Thursday, Donald Trump and Paul Ryan released a joint statement that solidified their commitment to unifying the party. Whatever qualms the presumptive nominee and the House Speaker have with each other, they seem to have put them aside (at least superficially). Ryan and Trump released a joint statement saying that they are "totally committed to working together" — to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House.

While the odd couple admitted, "we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground." From the joint statement, that common ground appears to be pretty much blocking Clinton from becoming the president. The opening lines of their statement were:

The United States cannot afford another four years of the Obama White House, which is what Hillary Clinton represents. That is why it’s critical that Republicans unite around our shared principles, advance a conservative agenda, and do all we can to win this fall.

It pretty much followed the adage, my enemy's enemy is my friend. But will fear of a President Hillary Clinton be enough to unify the GOP — or even really unify Ryan and Trump? Ryan still declined to endorse the presumptive Republican nominee after this meeting. While not as shocking as Ryan's declaration last week that he was "just not ready" to endorse him, it's still a huge statement, revealing those "few differences" are quite significant.