Something wildly unexpected happened last Tuesday night: Ted Cruz dropped out of the GOP presidential race, having been throttled by Donald Trump in the make-or-break Indiana primary.
Less than a day later, John Kasich called it quits as well.
Trump had become the presumptive, newly unchallenged Republican presidential nominee.
Then something unprecedented happened Thursday afternoon: The top elected Republican official decided to refrain from supporting the party's new standard-bearer off the bat.
"I'm just not ready to do that at this point," House Speaker Paul Ryan told CNN host Jake Tapper in an interview. "I'm not there right now."
"I hope to, and I want to," he continued. "But I think what is required is to unify this party. And I think the bulk of the burden on unifying the party will have to come from our presumptive nominee."
Rather than unification, the Republican Party is in the midst of a virtual split in two with Trump as the party's presumptive nominee. Many elected officials and party leaders have come out in support of the mogul, including Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in hopes of rallying the party around a strong challenge to likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Others have held their ground. The party's two most recent presidential nominees and its two living presidents declined to offer their support. Ryan was the loudest chip to fall (at least for now) in the camp.
"I think what a lot of Republicans want to see is that we have a standard-bearer that bears our standards," he said Thursday.
Trump did little to hold back in retaliation toward Ryan, signaling a clear and perhaps lengthy rift within the party. On Thursday he released a statement saying he was "not ready" to back the speaker's policy agenda.
The next day, he attributed Ryan's weariness to the real-estate magnate's repeated bashing of 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's performance in the 2012 election. Ryan was Romney's running mate.
"Well they lost a race that should've been won last time, and I've been very open about it,"Trump told "Fox & Friends" in a Friday interview. "That was a race that should've easily been won. That was an easier race than we have this year, but I'll win. You already see the polls going up rapidly."
"I mean he talks about unity, but what is this about unity?" Trump continued.
On Sunday, Trump said he had been "blindsided" by Ryan's nonendorsement. In a "Meet the Press" interview, Trump wouldn't rule out trying to replace Ryan as the chair of this summer's Republican National Convention.
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