Republicans to Trump: Show us you won’t embarrass us | The State

Please, Donald Trump, be statesmanlike. Rational. Conciliatory. Please, congressional Republicans will say Thursday, give us solid reasons to support you.

After all, many are muttering, they have little choice.

Trump plans a victory lap Thursday on Capitol Hill, meeting first with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. After that half-hour morning meeting, the GOP presidential candidate will be joined by House Republican leaders. Later in the morning, he’ll have a session with Senate Republicans.

The main event will involve Trump and Ryan, who offer radically different styles and résumés. Trump is visceral, Ryan methodical. Ryan has outlined his views in thick position papers; Trump’s positions often vary day by day. Ryan has spent most of his adult life in elective office; Trump is seeking his first.

Ryan leads a House of Representatives where Republicans have a comfortable majority, one the GOP has been favored to retain this fall. But a disastrous Trump candidacy could change the outlook quickly. Trump hasn’t shown much affinity for party-building, saying again Wednesday that if Republican leaders won’t cooperate with him, he’ll just go his own way.

Ryan, the nation’s highest-ranking Republican and a revered figure on Capitol Hill, stunned the political world last week when he said he was “just not ready” to back Trump. Later he suggested he’d give up his role of convention chairman if that’s what the billionaire businessman wanted.

Wednesday, after meeting with House Republicans, Ryan was more reassuring.

“To pretend we’re unified without actually unifying, then we go into the fall at half strength,” he explained at a Capitol news conference. “What we’re trying to do is be as constructive as possible, to have a real unification.”

He and Trump both played nice.

“I don’t really know him,” Ryan said of Trump. Ryan met Trump once, in 2012, and spoke with him on the phone in March.

Trump, too, was ready for civility, sort of.

“I think I’m doing very fine with Paul Ryan. I have a lot of respect for Paul Ryan,” Trump told “Fox and Friends.” “If we make a deal, that will be great. And if we don’t, we will trudge forward like I’ve been doing and winning, you know, all the time.”

The dilemma vexing Republicans is they have nowhere else to turn, and they’ve spent years frothing to see Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton not only defeated but also humiliated. They’re buoyed a bit by new polling that finds Trump competitive in the swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

They also have to live with Trump as the only Republican presidential alternative. Runner-up Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas had suggested he might re-enter the race if he did well in Nebraska’s Tuesday primary. But Trump crushed him, 61-18 percent. Efforts to start a third party bid, perhaps with a strong conservative or 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, are lagging.

So as lawmakers returned to Washington this week for the first time since Trump became the presumptive nominee, they were alternately dismayed by their likely nominee’s lack of allegiance to the conservative cause and largely resigned and hopeful that he will be.

Ryan set the tone last week. He and Trump disagree on several major issues. Ryan has long championed major changes in Social Security and Medicare. Trump doesn’t agree. Ryan has worked to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, while Trump talks about building a big wall at the Mexican border and mass deportations.

Wednesday, Ryan played down the differences. “This is a big tent party,” he said. “There’s plenty of room for policy disputes in this party.”

His colleagues tended to agree, and those who had backed others were becoming reluctant converts.

“I have an obligation to support him,” said Rep. Joe Barton of Texas. “I do think he’s not our perfect nominee. I do think he’s also showing an ability to bring people in who have not traditionally voted for someone in our party.”

Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., was a backer of Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. “To me the time to pick your ideal candidate is gone,” he said. “Now I have a choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. That’s a real easy pick for me.”

Trump is likely to find a more conciliatory audience when he meets with Republican senators – somewhat ironic, since the GOP is in real danger of losing its majority this fall in the Senate. Twenty-four Republican seats are up, and at least seven are regarded as possible Democratic pickups. Democrats would win control with a net gain of five seats; four if the party wins the White House.

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who is seeking re-election, urged respect for Trump’s vote-getting ability. “Clearly there’s a large contingent of Americans that came out for the primaries,” he said, “and that is going to be a pretty strong statement for the fall elections.”

Maria Recio contributed to this article.