Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is heading up a National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) fundraiser in New York on April 25th. However, the venue of the fundraiser is raising some eyebrows:

For those who might not know, the “Ricketts Family” are the primary donors to a Super-PAC specifically created to block Donald Trump from winning the GOP nomination.

Billionaire family Joe and Marlene Ricketts, owners of the Chicago Cubs, have recently given $5,000,000.oo to Katie Packer who heads “Our Principles PAC“, an organization created exclusively to defeat Donald Trump.

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Katie Packer recently outlined what they are doing with the Ricketts money:

Moving forward, Our Principles PAC is organizing delegates and deploying a number of tactics with a goal of depriving Trump of as many delegates as possible in upcoming contests. OPP will focus on delegate wins, not individual state wins. In addition, OPP will focus on states/districts electing unbound delegates to ensure those delegates are not supporting Trump on a first ballot and tracking candidates running for delegate in upcoming conventions to ensure that even if delegates are bound to Trump on early ballots, they move away on subsequent ballots. (link)

For Speaker Ryan to be heading up a fundraiser in the home of Donald Trump’s primary financial opponent/antagonist speaks volumes to the intent of the Republican Party when it comes to a unity approach. This is not being tone-deaf, this is transparently by design.

Back in 2008 the term “PUMA” was coined due to party shenanigans and insider manipulative efforts intended to block voices within the Democrat party. PUMA stand for “Party Unity My Ass“.

The message being sent by Paul Ryan is clearly one of antagonism toward Mr. Trump as the frontrunner of the Republican party. In addition, it is not a leap to see how this may be correctly perceived as Ryan positioning himself to be the nominee if Donald Trump can be successfully blocked at the republican party convention.

This is quite a significant poke in the eye.

My suggestion would be for Donald Trump to purchase tickets for the dinner and either attend himself, or send his people to represent his interests and see what exactly the discussion and establishment intent/tone therein consists of.

New York Congressman Chris Collins, who endorsed Trump, is also listed as a party attendee.