Republicans’ frustration with Donald Trump has reached new heights, with party leaders scrambling to persuade their presidential nominee to abandon divisive tactics that have triggered sinking poll numbers and low morale. Party chairman Reince Priebus is appealing to Mr. Trump’s adult children to help amid new signs of a campaign in trouble.
Mr. Trump’s operation has been beset by internal discord, including growing concern about general election preparedness and a lack of support from Republican leaders. One of the people associated with the campaign said Mr. Trump privately blames his own staff for failing to quiet the backlash from his own party after he criticised an American Muslim family whose son, a U.S. Army captain, was killed in Iraq. In the midst of the uproar over his continued criticism of the Khan family, Trump infuriated Mr. Priebus and other party leaders by refusing to endorse GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan’s re-election.
Not endorsing Ryan?
Mr. Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort said on Thursday that Mr. Trump and Mr. Priebus have spoken several times in the last two days. Mr. Manafort, speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” played down the conflict with Mr. Ryan. On “CBS This Morning,” Mr. Manafort said that while Mr. Trump didn’t take a position in the primary, “he’s going to support Paul Ryan. He does support Paul Ryan.”
Mr. Trump on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that the GOP frustration was hurting his campaign, even as he openly contemplated an Election Day loss.
“Wouldn’t that be embarrassing to lose to crooked Hillary Clinton? That would be terrible,” he said during a campaign stop in battleground Florida. He also insisted, “We’ve never been this united.”
Meanwhile, Groups of wealthy Republicans unhappy with Donald Trump have been privately courting prominent peers to join them in backing Democrat Hillary Clinton’s U.S. presidential bid, several people involved in the effort told Reuters. “I made the decision that I wouldn’t be able to look at my grandkids if I voted for Trump,” said Dan Webb, a former federal prosecutor and a self-described “Republican for decades” working to win over prominent Republican business people in Chicago.
Groups formed to support Ms. Clinton include Republicans for Her 2016, run by Republican lobbyist Craig Snyder; a grassroots organisation called R4C16, led by John Stubbs and Ricardo Reyes, officials in former President George W. Bush’s administration; and the Republican Women for Hillary group.
Also, Clint Eastwood said in an interview in Esquire magazine he praised the Republican presidential candidate for being “on to something”.
Eastwood praises Trump In the interview posted online on Wednesday, the actor-director hailed Mr. Trump as a foe of political correctness. “What Trump is onto is he’s just saying what’s on his mind. And sometimes it’s not so good. And sometimes it’s . I mean, I can understand where he’s coming from, but I don’t always agree with it,” he said.
He said he wasn’t endorsing anyone for President. But asked to choose between Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton he said, “I’d have to go for Trump.”
