More than 70 influential Republicans have signed a letter urging the party to stop spending money on Mr Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and direct it instead to November’s congressional races, a news report said on Friday (Aug 12).
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“We’re having a problem”, Trump told the ministers, adding that the next president could get to nominate up to five high-court justices.
Trump denied the officials’ account of the exchange.
The officials said Priebus described to Trump internal party polls that show his campaign headed in the wrong direction. “He never said that”.
“I would say they could be tried there”, Trump said.
Trump said he wasn’t anxious Republicans would cut him off – and threatened to stop fundraising for the party if they do.
Priebus could not be reached for comment.
In an interview with Fox News Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor Thursday night, Trump was asked about a Time report that the RNC was considering shifting focus to congressional races following a hard couple of weeks for the Republican nominee. In the last two weeks, Trump has suffered a deep dive in public polls amid a number of controversies caused by his own public statements.
Trump’s exercise in self-awareness is a marked departure from his usual tenor on the campaign trail, where for months at rallies he would tick through poll numbers showing him winning as if they were sports scores of his favorite team.
Reacting to the move, Mr Trump said he was not concerned that the party could cut him off, saying all he has to do is to stop funding the Republican Party.
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He is now behind Clinton in opinion polls, and many Republicans are alarmed that not only could the party lose the chance to win the White House but that Republican majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives could be at stake. The end result could be the party expending resources to turn out voters who will vote for Hillary Clinton but also back Republican Senate incumbents like Marco Rubio in Florida or Rob Portman in Ohio.
