Trump, Top Republican Leader Air Differences

he presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee, real estate mogul Donald Trump, and the party’s top elected official, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, voiced confidence after meeting Thursday they would eventually unite in their campaign against the likely Democratic nominee, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

But the scene outside the Republican National Committee where the two men met more closely resembled the raucous, unpredictable presidential contest that brought them here: lawmakers jumped fences, a bagpiper drowned out religious protestors and a group of undocumented immigrants held a mock funeral for the party.

Ryan, who said last week that he was “just not ready” to endorse Trump’s maverick campaign, again did not fully embrace his candidacy. But Ryan declared that he was “very encouraged” about unifying with Trump.

“I do believe we are planting the seeds to get ourselves unified,” Ryan said. “But this is a process. It takes time. It’s very important that we don’t fake unification.”

For the horde of national and international reporters waiting outside, the wait was long and substance limited.

Trump refrained from his usual propensity for making comments to the media, eluding even the cameras when he departed after the meeting. He was headed for talks with other Republican lawmakers, some of whom have endorsed him and others of whom remain skeptical of his political views and electoral chances against Clinton in the race to become the country’s 45th president.

Trump and Ryan said in a joint statement that they “remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win” November’s national presidential election. The two political figures said that “while we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground.”

Trump and Ryan said, “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.”