Trump later lashed out at the media’s coverage of the controversy.
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“The candidate is in control of his campaign”, campaign chairman Paul Manafort told Fox News Channel, highlighting his inability to control the nominee.
Ryan has offered detailed proposals, and while Trump has not explicitly expressed support, he’d be expected to go along.
Priebus was furious at Trump for the past week’s events, including the candidate’s criticisms of Gold Star parents Khizr and Ghazala Khan, whose son was killed in the Iraq War, and Trump’s refusal to endorse Ryan, R-Wis. He said doing so “will help us retake the soul of our own party, which we have our own challenges with these days”.
And Trump’s guidance to Pence all along has been: “I want you to be who you are – do your thing”. Trump continued to campaign for his run for president of the United States.
“Again, it has not been a great week for the campaign”.
On Tuesday, Democratic President Barack Obama unleashed his strongest attack yet on Trump.
“I talked to Donald Trump this morning about my support for Paul Ryan and our longtime friendship”, Pence said. John McCain said Wednesday he’s sticking by his pledge to support Donald Trump as the GOP’s presidential nominee despite a series of Trump comments that have brought rebukes from top Republicans, including McCain himself. “And I’m pleased to do it”.
In an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, Trump declined to endorse Ryan orSen.
Ryan’s once sleepy race against little-known and underfunded challenger Paul Nehlen, an executive at a water filtration company, got a jolt when Trump refused to back Ryan.
Trump had sneered at the Khans, including falsely suggesting that as a Muslim, Mr. Khan had forced his wife to stand silent at the Democratic Convention while he powerfully criticized Trump’s stance on Muslims and immigration.
The former RNC lawyer said there is a mechanism by which Trump can be replaced, if he voluntarily drops out.
Trump also funneled an additional $2 million of his own money into his campaign operation in a dollar-matching fundraising drive, bringing his total contributions to his campaign over the a year ago to just over $56 million, the campaign announced.
Party chiefs are reportedly set to stage an “intervention” in the hope of guiding Trump back into a facsimile of a presidential candidate.
“He’s incapable of changing”. Highlighting the turmoil in the Middle East under Obama, Trump allies have said, was the candidate’s intent when he criticized the parents of a slain US solider who spoke about their son last week at the Democratic National Convention.
Former Trump adviser Barry Bennett acknowledged signs of poor morale among the campaign staff he maintains contact with, but he also said it would be silly dismiss Trump’s chances with three months before Election Day. “And he’s only 5 or 6 points behind”, Bennett said. But he has also said he supports the Republican nominee, so the impact is hard to figure.
The numbers mark a significant upswing since May, when he was badly outraised by Democratic rival Clinton. Meg Whitman, a major Republican donor who contributed heavily to Mitt Romney’s campaign, has now vowed to donate to Hillary Clinton during this election cycle.
Trump raised $80 million for his campaign and party entities last month, the campaign said.
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Some party loyalists are scrambling to try to course correct Donald Trump’s erratic presidential campaign after the nominee suffered a startling number of self-inflicted campaign wounds in just the kick-off week of the general election race.
