Donald Trump remains the Republican Party’s (presumptive) nominee for president, but GOP politicians are becoming increasingly reluctant to defend Trump, as he continues to shatter the dreams of those who once thought their candidate would start behaving in a more “presidential” fashion after wrapping up the nomination.
They don’t even want to talk about it anymore.
"Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn [told] POLITICO he will no longer talk about Trump until after Nov. 8." https://t.co/lyGzNAcUaD
— Timothy Noah (@TimothyNoah1) June 15, 2016
RNC chairman Reince Priebus isn’t going out of his way to defend Trump.
Notably no Trump defense in this @Reince statement responding to Obama presser pic.twitter.com/VBInQ59pYU
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) June 14, 2016
And Trump doesn’t really have anything nice to say about GOP leadership, either.
Donald Trump's criticism of GOP leaders/lawmakers today is really something: pic.twitter.com/pMT67DY6LY
— Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) June 15, 2016
It’s not a great look for the Republican Party.
Trump has pulled down the GOP's favorability rating to the lowest (32%) in Bloomberg polling history https://t.co/hV1sTh0SWt via @bpolitics
— Joshua Green (@JoshuaGreen) June 15, 2016
Some Senators have been pretty vocal in denouncing their own party’s nominee. Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham, for example, have urged their GOP colleagues to withhold their endorsement of Trump.
Jeff Flake: Some of Trump's comments "beyond the pale" https://t.co/g7RLMpLSHv
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) June 12, 2016
Lindsey Graham: Trump's comment on U.S. soldiers' stealing Iraqi $ "taints the finest fighting force in the world" https://t.co/WuznjIaVnc
— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) June 15, 2016
Yeah, in case you missed, Trump actually suggested U.S. soldiers might have stolen money intended to pay for the Iraq reconstruction after the war. And he’s made several other statement in the past few days that could well make Republican politicians uncomfortable.
Donald Trump just suggested "respectfully" surveilling mosques https://t.co/4xPELfDYru pic.twitter.com/hgaf9HOPzu
— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) June 15, 2016
Trump reiterates that he'll speak to Kim Jong-un. "Who the hell cares? I'll speak to anybody."
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) June 15, 2016
Oh, and there’s also the fact that Trump is polling at an all-time low.
Negative views of Donald Trump just hit a new campaign high: 7 in 10 Americanshttps://t.co/laPiDL5oac pic.twitter.com/6pzoQ41nsC
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 15, 2016
For now, Republicans are simply trying to convince themselves that all is well.
Everything's fine. https://t.co/dHmMtNETy5 pic.twitter.com/q748VwFfBH
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) June 15, 2016
Some have chosen denial.
"We don't have a nominee" Sen Alexander says in response to question on Trump. Informed he's the presumptive nominee: "That's what you say."
— Erica Werner (@ericawerner) June 14, 2016
Maybe it will get better. But maybe not.
They shouldn't just be thinking about where he's polling now, but where he might be polling after another month. https://t.co/xTHKbPZ5ro
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) June 15, 2016
The RNC convention is fast approaching, and efforts to draft an independent anti-Trump candidacy seem to have fizzled. At the same time, elected Republicans certainly don’t seem thrilled about the prospect of defending Donald Trump for five more months until Election Day. It would not be surprising if Donald Trump’s behavior over the last several days has caused more GOP leaders to wonder whether actually handing him the nomination is worth the trouble.
TAKE THE POLL
