House Speaker Paul Ryan urged party unity at Mitt Romney's annual ideas summit amid a presidential campaign that has been anything but harmonious. He also was forced to explain his endorsement of Donald Trump to a Republican crowd mostly critical of the presumptive Republican nominee. In a session at Romney's E2 summit closed to the press, Ryan was asked by Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman, a financier of the "Stop Trump" movement, how he could support Trump. She called Trump a demagogue and compared him to Hitler and Mussolini, according to two people in the room who confirmed on the basis of anonymity. Whitman's direct question was first reported by the Washington Post. Ryan responded that he endorsed to keep the party together, according to three people in the ballroom and agreed to discuss it. He also said that Trump won among voters so he didn't want to go against their will. Ryan also encouraged party unity, but he didn't attempt to persuade the mostly anti-Trump crowd to get behind the presumptive Republican nominee; instead he rallied the attendees to give their money and support to House and Senate races to maintain Republican majorities. Read more http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...es-unity-explains-why-he-backed-trump-n590046
