Over 70 Republicans signed an open letter to Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus and urged him to cut off funding to Donald Trump. Their secondary hope is that the RNC would divert more resources to this year’s Senate and House races. A draft of the letter, which was obtained by Politico, reads as follows:
“We believe that Donald Trump’s divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide, and only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck. This should not be a difficult decision, as Donald Trump’s chances of being elected president are evaporating by the day.”
The signees include former New Hampshire Senator Gordon Humphrey, former Republican Representatives Chris Shays, Tom Coleman, and Vin Weber, and almost 20 former RNC staffers. Andrew Weinstein, who served as the director of media relations for the Dole/Kemp presidential campaign and deputy press secretary to then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, is one of the organizers of the letter.
The letter, which the Republicans delivered to Priebus Thursday, states that Trump has “shown dangerous authoritarian tendencies.” They refer to his anti-Muslim sentiments and proposed ban on allowing refugees from war-torn countries to enter America. And they anticipate how Trump may take advantage of executive orders to institute his unconstitutional proposals if Congress tries to shut them down. This is only the latest tactic by some party members to shut down Trump, but will it work?
(Via Politico)