The split is prompting new concerns about the stability of the relationship between the Republican Party’s leadership and its presidential candidate.
Advertisement
Party chairman Reince Priebus is appealing to the NY billionaire’s adult children to help amid new signs of a campaign in trouble.
Priebus joined a handful of high-profile Trump allies in considering whether to confront the candidate directly following a series of startling stances and statements with Election Day quickly approaching.
Donald Trump is openly taunting the leaders of his own party by refusing to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Sen.
The officials, including one with direct knowledge of Priebus’ thinking, were granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue during one of the most tumultuous weeks of Trump’s presidential campaign.
The most powerful Republicans in Washington and New York’s Trump Tower concede things will not change unless Trump wants them to.
“The candidate is in control of his campaign”, campaign chairman Paul Manafort told the Fox News Network, highlighting his inability to control the nominee. “And I’m in control of doing the things that he wants me to do in the campaign”. It is all occurring in the shadow of a bipartisan rebuke of Trump’s statements about Ghazala Khan, the mother of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, and Khizr Khan, who spoke at this year’s Democratic National Convention in support of presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
“You are referring to a very old poll, sir”, Nehlen said. “I mean, he does support Paul Ryan. Beat Crooked H!” he wrote on Twitter early on Wednesday, referring to his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
“Reince Priebus is a strong supporter and a good friend and supporter of Paul Ryan and he’s been a bridge between the party and the campaign since Mr. Trump became the presumptive nominee in April”, Manafort told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
Pence said he spoke with Trump Wednesday morning “about my support for Paul Ryan and our longtime friendship. And I’m pleased to do it”.
Ryan’s district gets “all the notoriety” over the lack of a Trump endorsement, said Manafort, because the congressman is speaker of the House, but “it’s not just” Ryan that hasn’t gotten Trump’s endorsement.
A 30-second TV advert released yesterday shows clips of 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, former secretary of defence Robert Gates, former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden and others questioning his temperament and foreign policy experience.
So far, McCain, Ryan and other Republicans who’ve reluctantly declared that they plan to back Trump for president appear to be sticking with him. Lee noted reports of angst from within Trump’s campaign, some of which have to do with Trump not reciprocating Ryan’s support and backing him in his re-election campaign.
In Daytona, Florida, Trump said the news media’s coverage of him was dishonest.
Advertisement
He is considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the country, as he was last cycle when he pulled off in a hard-fought win against Democrat Andrew Romanoff.
