Paul Nehlen, who is challenging Paul Ryan in his Republican primary, said he would support Donald Trump. | Getty Paul Ryan’s primary opponent: I’ll support Trump

When House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday he wasn’t ready to support Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, his Wisconsin primary opponent saw an opening.

Following the Trump campaign’s lash-out on Friday, Paul Nehlen seized that opening, suggesting he will do what Ryan won't: support Trump.


“If Mr. Trump is the nominee, I will support that decision, because it will have been the will of the voters that got him there,” the Republican challenging Ryan for Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District seat in the state’s August primary said in a statement.

Nehlen is seeking to gain an edge in the primary against Ryan, who won his 2014 primary by nearly 90 percentage points. This time around, the Trump campaign and allies have aggressively attacked the House speaker and Republican National Convention chair, with Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson intimating that Ryan is unfit for his role if he can’t support the presumptive nominee.

But on Friday when Chuck Todd asked Pierson on "Meet the Press" if Trump would prefer to see Ryan remain speaker, she said "absolutely." She said she had been stating her own opinion and not Trump's.

"Mr. Trump is not out to get anyone here," Pierson said. She also said that Trump would not back Nehlan even if Ryan refused to support him.

Trump himself called out Ryan in a tweet for claiming Trump “inherited” the Republican Party, highlighting that voters catapulted him atop the GOP ticket.

“Paul Ryan said that I inherited something very special, the Republican Party. Wrong, I didn't inherit it, I won it with millions of voters!” Trump wrote on Twitter.



The nuance of his tweet speaks to the rift between mainstream Republicans and the polarizing, unconventional candidate who has risen to become the face of the party.

“Paul Ryan is right at the head of a small group of party elites who continue to tell the American people they know better,” Nehlen said. “He’s demonstrated that he’s not the unifier he claims. If he were a unifier, he would look for ways to work with the candidate that the American people have chosen in state after state.”

Nehlen argued that, despite Ryan’s calls for unity, his actions show he’s divisive, adding that Ryan isn’t supportive of Trump and wasn’t supportive of Ted Cruz or Rand Paul, either.

“It’s clear that he’s right out in front of the establishment’s #OnlyMe team. The people have spoken,” he said. “But Paul Ryan somehow thinks that the People are incompetent and that GOP elites should step in and guide them. The last time I checked, we lived in a representative republic. Paul Ryan seems to think we’re living in an oligarchy.”

Ryan said the onus is on Trump to unify the different wings of the party, a view Pierson pushed back on and Nehlen affirmed.

“Paul Ryan needs to be a — he’s the leader right now,” Pierson said. “We’re told Donald Trump is only the presumptive nominee. He’s not the nominee until 1,237. So really it’s incumbent on Paul Ryan to help bring unity to the party.”

Ryan’s office announced Friday afternoon that Ryan, Trump and Priebus will meet in Washington on Thursday of next week.

Nehlen’s move could give his campaign a boost, although Trump's anti-establishment appeal in Wisconsin's presidential primary wasn't enough for the billionaire to win the state — or Ryan's district, which was carried by Ted Cruz.

Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin endorsed Nehlen’s congressional campaign in April and will host a fundraiser for him in Wisconsin on May 27.