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The Republican party is facing a divide, with party leader Paul Ryan refusing to support Donald Trump as the party’s presidential nominee, insisting that the businessman must do more to unite the party.

Appearing on CNN’s show The Lead, Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives, said on Thursday that many Republicans wanted to see “a standard-bearer who bears our standards” and “unifies all the wings of the Republican Party”.

“I’m just not ready to do that at this point. I’m not there right now,” the Wisconsin Republican said.

Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington DC, said “Ryan has been asked on national TV whether or not there were concerns about the policy proposals put forward by Donald Trump to not allow Muslims to enter United States, at least temporarily, also to deport illegal immigrants.”

“Paul Ryan simply said there’s a lot of work that needs to be done,” she said.

Trump, since becoming the presumptive Republican nominee has been quietly reaching out to the members of the Republican Party, in an attempt to try and unite the party.

“But he has been receiving a less than warm reception,” said Halkett, “Paul Ryan basically said on national TV that he is not ready to support Donald Trump.”

Ryan’s comments comes two days after Trump essentially clinched the nomination with a commanding win in Indiana that forced his last two opponents — Ted Cruz and John Kasich — from the race.

Trump, who has become party’s presumptive presidential nominee, responded by saying he is not ready to support Ryan’s agenda either.

“Perhaps in the future we can work together,” the billionaire businessman added.

Ryan is not the only one to have aired opposition to Trump. Former Presidents George H W Bush and George W Bush and several other senior Republicans have refused to back the real estate mogul. But Indiana Governor Mike Pence and former Texas Governor Rick Perry threw their weight behind the presidential nominee.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, however, said that Ryan and Trump will work out their differences after he spoke to both of them.

The highly unusual salvos between the likely White House nominee and the House speaker came at a moment when all involved would normally be turning from the primaries to unifying the party for November’s elections.

Ryan, his party’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, had been seen as a possible “white knight” candidate who could emerge as an alternative to Trump at a contested convention slated to be held in July. He called a press conference last month to rule himself out.

Trump’s Indiana victory pushed him to 1,047 delegates. He needs 1,237 to clinch the nomination.

Meanwhile, Thursday was hardly the pinnacle of Latino outreach for Trump.

The presumptive US Republican presidential frontrunner celebrated the Cinco de Mayo holiday, which commemorates Mexican resistance, by posting a photograph of himself tucking into a taco bowl and proclaiming “I love Hispanics!”

Hispanic-Americans represent an increasingly important voting bloc in the United States. But polls show about three quarters of them hold unfavourable views of the billionaire, who insulted Mexican immigrants last year by branding some of them “rapists” and other criminals.

He has also vowed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the Mexican border in order to stem illegal immigration and drug flows.

Trump’s post on Twitter and Facebook, the latest in a long list of awkward postings during the 11 months of his campaign, did wish his millions of followers a “Happy #CincoDeMayo!”

It was downhill from there. “The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!” Trump wrote, above a photo of the grinning real estate tycoon holding a forkful of his meal, which he appeared to be eating at a desk.

The dish before him, also known as a taco salad, with a flour tortilla shell, originated in the United States.

Hillary Clinton, the Democrat likely to face Trump in the general election in November, weighed in within minutes of the taco tweet.

The former secretary of state cited Trump’s apparent love for Hispanics while also quoting him from his NBC interview a day earlier, in which he said “they’re gonna be deported.”

She also added a tweet in Spanish, saying Trump’s foreign policy was “irresponsible.”

Others offered a more light-hearted critique of The Donald — who was bound for West Virginia later on Thursday for a campaign rally — including none other than 2015 Miss West Virginia Andrea Mucino.

“You’re not eating taco bowls from New York because you’re in WV today, Cinco De Mayo isn’t a Hispanic holiday it’s a Mexican one, and you’re the same colour as the taco bowl shell. But I digress!” the beauty queen wrote on Facebook.

– The Rolling Stones have become the latest musicians to ask US Republican presumptive presidential nominee Trump to stop using their songs in his campaign events.

“The Rolling Stones have never given permission to the Trump campaign to use their songs and have requested that they cease all use immediately,” the rockers said in a statement.

Trump has used hits including You Can’t Always Get What You Want and Start Me Up to fire up his supporters at campaign events.

The Stones join a growing number of musicians who have expressed anger at Trump’s use of their music at rallies, which have repeatedly been marred by violence.

Everlast last month demanded he stop playing “Jump Around” by the rapper’s former band House of Pain, while Neil Young, REM and Adele have also spoken out.

Trump has an uncontested path to the Republican presidential nomination after his victory in Indiana’s primary on Thursday pushed remaining challengers Ted Cruz and then Ohio Governor John Kasich out of the race. — AP