JOHN BERMAN (HOST): You know, Dana, just moments ago, Donald Trump said he was surprised by the fact that [House Speaker] Paul Ryan (R-WI) said yesterday that he's not yet ready to support him. I don't understand what's going to happen at this meeting Wednesday. We think they're going to meet next Wednesday in Washington. Trump just said that as well. What does Paul Ryan need to hear? I mean, is he going to accept Donald Trump's Muslim ban?
BERMAN: Is he going to accept the mass deportations?
DANA BASH: No.
BERMAN: Or is Donald Trump going to come off those positions? Neither seem likely, and without that, how does Paul Ryan get what he says he wants, which is to support the Republican nominee?
BASH: It's really hard to see how this movie ends. No question about it, but let me actually just underscore something that you just said, which is different for Donald Trump. And maybe a baby step towards getting to what Paul Ryan is asking for. He said that Donald Trump said this morning he's surprised. Last night at his rally he didn't even mention Paul Ryan. He has a two-sentence statement that he put out and he’s been mentioning it in a kind of a backhanded way on Twitter, talking about the fact that he's happy about the endorsements he has gotten. Donald Trump two days ago, three days ago would have been ripping Paul Ryan to shreds. So perhaps, perhaps, either somebody has taken his cell phone and put it in a hiding place, or he is sort of getting it and he's saying, look, it's different now. But ultimately, I don't know how the two of them will meet. They're not going to meet on those issues. The best case scenario is that they meet on other issues. On other big policy issues that Paul Ryan is pushing. But there is a very specific reason, I am reminded, that Paul Ryan has been quietly trying to build an agenda for House Republicans, while nobody's been paying attention all year long so that they have something to run on. So if this moment happened, he can have some distance personally, but also policy-wise for his members from Donald Trump.
