Dan Quayle. (AP Photo)

Former Vice President Dan Quayle said Thursday that he is standing behind Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

“Look, I was the Republican vice president. And I’ve been a Republican all my life. I’m going to support the nominee,” Quayle said on NBC’s “Today” show.

Quayle made the announcement as various Republican leaders grapple with the idea of Trump as their party’s standard-bearer in the general election. The brash billionaire ran a scorched earth primary campaign and alienated much of the GOP establishment.

Former President George H.W. Bush, under whom Quayle served, is among those who have signaled that they were not planning to endorse Trump. On Thursday, Trump is meeting with the House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has so far declined to support his party’s expected nominee.

But Quayle downplayed the GOP divisions and predicted that Ryan will ultimately back Trump.

“I predict that most people in my position — or people that have been in the Republican Party for a long time — will rally around the nominee,” Quayle said on “Today.”

“I fully expect that Paul Ryan will eventually support Donald Trump publicly. I hope that happens because we do have to be unified,” he continued.

Despite his support, Quayle did not appear to be wildly enthusiastic about Trump during the interview.

“Do you think Donald Trump has the experience, the knowledge and the temperament to be president?” NBC anchor Matt Lauer asked Quayle.

“Were going to find out,” the ex-vice president replied. “I believe he has the capability to be president of the United States,” he added.

Quayle went on to praise Trump’s political skills, business record and status as a Washington outsider.

“Clearly he’s got good political instincts,” he said. “He has a good business background. He’s a winner. And he’s unusual. He’s obviously very different. He’s not going to play by the rules. It’s a different situation but I think that he can win.”

Quayle has mostly been out of the public eye since the end of George H.W. Bush’s presidency in 1993. According to his official website, Quayle has been authoring books and serving as chairman of the private investment firm Cerberus Global Investments, LLC.

His Thursday interview marked one of the few times he’s publicly addressed the 2016 campaign.