**Written by Doug Powers

House Speaker Paul Ryan’s first “deal” with a president from the opposing party was to the tune of $1.1 trillion, so I’d hate to see what his definition of “blank check” would be:

The nation’s most powerful Republican told his party Monday he now is focusing on ensuring Hillary Clinton doesn’t get a blank check as president with a Democratic-controlled Congress, suggesting he doesn’t believe Donald Trump can win the election.

House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office quickly said he was not conceding the election’s outcome. But pro-Trump GOP House members got that impression, pushing back and saying Trump can still prevail and should not be abandoned. One outspoken conservative called Ryan and other Republican leaders “cowards.”

A person who was on Ryan’s conference call with GOP lawmakers said the speaker declared that he will “spend his entire energy making sure that Hillary Clinton does not get a blank check with a Democrat-controlled Congress.” The person wasn’t authorized to be quoted by name and demanded anonymity.

Ryan said he wouldn’t defend Trump or appear with the Republican presidential candidate for the rest of the campaign, according to lawmakers and Republican congressional staff, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

The media’s reporting that essentially as a concession that Clinton’s going to be elected.

Ryan said he wouldn’t be rescinding his endorsement of Trump, but the GOP nominee is yugely annoyed:

Yesterday, Trump’s Virginia campaign chair was fired after leading a protest outside RNC headquarters in Washington, D.C.

This has been some kinda weird election year. But do you know can temporarily bring all sides together? Music: