- The Washington Times - Friday, May 13, 2016

Former House Speaker John A. Boehner said this week that while he disagrees with Donald Trump on a number of policy issues, Mr. Trump is the presumptive GOP presidential nominee “whether people like it or not.”

“Donald Trump’s going to be the nominee. And we as a party are going to have to figure out all right — how [do] we get our act together? How do we get on the same page, and how do we win?” Mr. Boehner said Thursday at the SALT conference in Las Vegas.

“Listen, Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee whether people like it or not,” Mr. Boehner said. “He worked hard, he went out there and won these delegates, and [it] certainly looks like he’s going to be the nominee.”

“Anybody that thinks that Donald Trump can’t win — just watch,” he said.

Asked whether he agreed or disagreed with a series of Mr. Trump’s stated policy positions, Mr. Boehner said “no” to: instituting a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the United States, building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and tearing up trade agreements and imposing 35 percent tariffs on imports.

Asked about the idea to “get tougher than waterboarding [in] how we treat suspected terrorists and consider killing their family members,” Mr. Boehner made a face and said that “might be a bit harsh.”

“Listen, I voted for John Kasich. … John Kasich didn’t win,” Mr. Boehner said. “Jeb Bush didn’t win.”

“Thank God that guy from Texas didn’t win,” Mr. Boehner said, referring to Sen. Ted Cruz. Mr. Boehner recently described Mr. Cruz as “Lucifer in the flesh.”

“I got criticized by some satanic organization of Washington for giving Lucifer a bad name,” he said.

“The point is that while I was for some other people. They didn’t win,” he said.

• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.

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