Elkhorn, Wisconsin: At a GOP fundraiser in this picturesque swath of southeastern Wisconsin, Donald Trump was supposed to join the state’s popular congressman, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, for their first joint campaign event on Saturday.
But Ryan, the nation’s highest-ranking Republican who has struggled to embrace Trump’s candidacy, rescinded the invitation after a recording emerged of the businessman making vulgar comments about groping women.
When Ryan took the stage to speak on Saturday, shock and anger over the incident was still palpable. But to Ryan’s disappointment, it was mostly directed at him.
“Paul Ryan sucks!” said Paul Anderson, 28, who drove nearly an hour from Milwaukee to hear Trump speak.
As Ryan began to speak, hecklers started chanting Trump’s name and one screamed at Ryan, “You turned your back on us!”
While a number of top-name Republican politicians renounced Trump on Saturday in the aftermath of the recording, many of his rank-and-file supporters stood behind their standard-bearer, heckling and attacking GOP leaders who distanced themselves from the billionaire.
While few openly defended Trump’s lewd remarks, many of his supporters dismissed the incident as overblown, blaming the media for hyping the story and GOP elected officials for panicking in response.
Many Trump supporters saw the tide of criticism against the businessman as the latest push by the political elite to cripple his candidacy. And the disconnect between their continued backing for Trump and the sense of crisis among elected officials underscored the potential for the final phase of Trump’s campaign to deepen the divide between the Republican Party establishment and its grass-roots base.
In Nevada, Joe Heck, a Republican candidate for US Senate, was also heckled and booed on Saturday after withdrawing his endorsement of Trump.
In New York, throngs of Trump’s supporters gathered outside Trump Tower in a gesture of support, cheering when he briefly emerged to wave.
Inside the Trump campaign, officials were initially concerned about a backlash from the incident, but quickly regrouped and remain optimistic that they can recover, according to a person familiar with the campaign who did not want to be identified speaking about internal conversations.
“There’s a plan to move forward, and it’s going to be aggressive,” the person said. “It’s all voter support.”
Even those Trump supporters who said they found his remarks repugnant said he remained a better alternative than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
At the Fall Fest fundraiser in Wisconsin, Sally Luell, 68, called Trump’s remarks “abhorrent,” but said she would vote for Trump because she “can’t stand Hillary.”
“I think Hillary Clinton backing her husband when he was doing what he was doing was worse,” said the retired municipal worker from Muskego.
Ryan, who was heckled throughout his appearance, never mentioned Trump’s name but acknowledged the controversy during his eight-minute speech.
“There is a bit of an elephant in the room,” Ryan told about 1,000 Republican voters at the annual barbecue, where political leaders give speeches amid hay bales, pumpkins and American flags.
“It is a troubling situation, and I’m serious, it is,” he said. “I put out a statement about this last night. I meant what I said and it’s still how I feel. But that is not what we are here to talk about today.”
Ryan focused on the US Senate race in Wisconsin, and on his six-point congressional agenda called ‘A Better Way.’
“In the House, we’re offering people a better way. We are offering solutions,” Ryan said. But the hecklers would not relent; one yelled that Ryan supported President Obama.
