Donald Trump said Friday he and House Speaker Paul Ryan will meet next week to discuss the congressman's hesitation in endorsing his campaign, but meanwhile, he said it was the tone of his campaign that's been attracting "millions of people into the party."
"We set a record, all time records for votes," Trump told
Fox News' "Fox & Friends" in a telephone interview. "We're up 70 percent more, more than 70 percent from four years ago in terms of voting. There's a certain reason for that, I hate to say it's me, but let's just assume it is me."
And, Trump said, Ryan's statement to CNN's Jake Tapper Thursday afternoon caught him by surprise.
"It's fine," Trump said. "He can do whatever he wants to do. It's fine. But I was surprised by it. By the way, many other people were surprised by it and not happy about it. I will tell you I have many endorsements from yesterday. They're coming in left and right. He's one of the only ones that really was surprising."
Part of the issue could be frequent criticism of 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, whose running mate was Ryan, one of the Fox interviewers said.
"Well, they lost a race that should have been won," said Trump. "I've been very open about it, that was a race that should have easily been won. That was an easier race [than] this year, but I'll win."
Ryan on Thursday commented that he is concerned about Trump's ability to unify the party, but Trump defended his ability to bring the party together.
"He talks about unity, but what is this about unity?" said Trump."With millions of people coming into the party obviously I'm saying the right thing. The party was staid, it had a lot of problems — whether it was the right thing or the wrong thing, whatever they were saying wasn't doing it.
"Now the Republican Party is the talk of the world because there's no place and no party that's increasing in scope like we have. It's a big story. Millions and millions of people have come into the party," making the negativity hard to believe. But "it doesn't bother me at all."
And while Trump's anti-establishment stance is attracting voters, Trump said Friday that "many people think it's a good thing, but I don't. I think it's something that the party should get solved quickly and I know we're meeting next week."
He said he does not know what he and Ryan will speak about at the meeting, which he believes will take place on Wednesday
Trump said that as he tries to unite the party, he wants to continue his core message, "Make America Great Again," which he's had from the beginning.
"We have trouble," he told the program. "Our military is being depleted, our trade deals are horrible. We're losing on every single deal we make. We don't take care of our veterans. We have problems on top of problems."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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