(CNN)Donald Trump's once cool relationship with the Republican Party has turned ice cold. Declaring that the "shackles" of moderation had been shed, Trump on Tuesday unleashed a barrage of angry tweets denouncing the party that made him its presidential nominee, while taking potshots at its leader, House Speaker Paul Ryan. For nearly 16 months, Trump and Republican officials have maneuvered and played each other, launching and squashing a series of feuds as the party sought to manage Trump and he angled to keep its organization in his corner.
Paul Ryan calls Trump meeting 'very encouraging'
The makings of a fragile alliance seemed to be in the works after a meeting that was treated like a summit between the heads of warring states. When it was over, Trump and Ryan even put out a joint statement pointing toward progress and a more decorous future. "While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground," they said. "We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there's a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal." Ryan did not endorse the presumptive nominee, but conceded that his primary run had been "kind of unparalleled." Trump tweeted his delight all the same, saying, "Great day in D.C. with @SpeakerRyan
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and Republican leadership. Things working out really well!" "I don't mind going through a little bit of a slow process," he told Sean Hannity on Fox News. "We're getting there." Priebus, a close ally of Ryan's who helped broker the meeting, called it "a good first step toward unifying our party" during a subsequent interview with CNN's Dana Bash. By June 2, Ryan had come all the way around. In his hometown Janesville Gazette, the Wisconsinite wrote that he finally felt "confident (Trump) would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people's lives. That's why I'll be voting for him this fall." With the Cleveland convention nearing, Trump had finally secured the backing of the highest-ranking Republican in the land.
July 18-21, 2016 -- Cold shoulders, a clash in Cleveland
GOP Rep. Chaffetz on Trump: 'I'm out'
A little after 4 p.m. last Friday, a video, obtained and published by The Washington Post, put a hammer to the Republicans' fragile coalition. In the tape, Trump can be heard musing about sexual assault and engaging in otherwise graphic conversation about a number of women. Within hours of its hitting the airwaves, Trump's GOP backers began to flee. Utah's Jason Chaffetz became the first sitting Republican congressman to publicly withdraw his support. Ayotte and McCain soon did the same. Establishment figures like former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Trump to withdraw from the race. Others said they would simply refuse to support or defend the nominee going forward.
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But in perhaps the most stinging response, Ryan, who said he was "sickened" by the contents of the 2005 tape, told Trump to stay away from a GOP event in Wisconsin where they had been scheduled to share a stage. Vice presidential nominee Mike Pence was initially announced as Trump's stand-in, but that was scuppered, too. By Monday, Ryan went a step further, telling GOP House members he would no longer vouch for Trump or defend him, and instead, per his spokeswoman, "spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities."
October 11 -- It all falls apart Ryan stopped short of revoking his endorsement of Trump, but the message was clear: the long dance had come to a screeching halt. Trump responded with a primal scream. Over the course of about five hours, beginning early Tuesday morning, the Republican presidential nominee launched a volley of angry tweets targeting Ryan, John McCain and "disloyal R's" from around the country. "Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty," Trump wrote after grumbling that he had not been credited with having won his most recent debate against Clinton by a "landslide."
"It is so nice," he continued in another tweet, "that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to." As his subsequent posts would confirm, Trump's desired approach meant taking on both Republicans, like McCain, and Democrats -- the latter he described as being more naturally loyal than members of his own party. "Disloyal R's are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary," he said. "They come at you from all sides. They don't know how to win - I will teach them!" With less than a month to go, class is in session.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/11/politics/donald-trump-campaign-republicanparty/index.html
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