“At least he’s not Hillary. At least he’s not Hillary. At least he’s not Hillary…”

This seems to be the new mantra of the GOP, and will likely be an oft-heard phrase in the following months. Don’t be surprised when you begin to see those bumper stickers pop up.

House Speaker Paul Ryan is maintaining his support for Donald Trump, in spite of the calls from many in the party to un-endorse, and thereby spare the party the difficult prospect of having to separate the party narrative from the nominee’s misogynistic and racist statements.

As with others, however, Ryan feels the task of trying to dress up a toad and teach him manners in a matter of months is far less threatening than the prospect of another Clinton administration.

Ryan has publicly stated his disapproval of Trump’s recent comments about U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel and his inability to do his job, based on his Mexican heritage. In a televised interview on Friday, the House Speaker said he also spoke with the party nominee privately.

Via POLITICO:

“I have, and I’ve explained exactly what I thought about that comment. I said it publicly and I said it privately,” Ryan told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in a portion of an interview broadcast on “Good Morning America,” set to broadcast in full Sunday on “This Week.” “Look, we want to offer the country a clear and compelling choice so that we can earn a mandate from the nation to fix our country’s problems, those kind of comments get in the way of that kind of dialogue we need to have with our fellow citizens.”

Speaker Ryan has previously called Trump’s comments “a textbook definition of a racist statement.” Whether Trump wants to have a dialogue with the American citizens or whether he wants to rule by chaos are debatable. If he continues in the same vein as he has, we can assume it’s the latter.

When asked if he felt Trump understood why his statements about the judge had caused such a storm of controversy, Ryan could not give an answer.

“I don’t know the answer to that question. Getting over that kind of a comment is not, that’s, no — this is something that needed to be condemned,” Ryan said. “That comment is beyond the pale. That’s not political correctness. Suggesting that a person can’t do their job because of race or ethnicity, that’s not a politically incorrect thing to do, that’s just a wrong thing to say.”

But, at least he’s not Hillary.