WASHINGTON: Over 70 Republicans have signed a letter asking the party to stop spending money on Donald Trump's presidential campaign. A draft text of the letter written to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said, "We believe that Donald Trump's divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide."
The letter called for an "immediate shift" of party funding Senate and House races, to aid down-ballot Republicans whose own election prospects have been harmed by Trump's unpopularity. The letter said, "This should not be a difficult decision, as Donald Trump's chances of being elected president are evaporating by the day. Those recent outrages have built on his campaign of anger and exclusion, during which he was mocked and offended millions of voters, including the disabled, women, Muslims, immigrants, and minorities."
"He also has shown dangerous authoritarian tendencies, including threats to ban an entire religion from entering the country, order the military to break the law by torturing prisoners, kill the families of suspected terrorists, track law-abiding Muslim citizens in databases, and use executive orders to implement other illegal and unconstitutional measures."
While the letter shows the same spirit shown by several Republican national security officials in March, Trump's recent statements encouraging Russia to hack Democrat Hillary Clinton's email server, pushed others too.
Meanwhile, Trump straying from his trademark bravado, acknowledged that his presidential campaign is facing challenges and could ultimately fall short - a rare expression of humility. Trump's most explicit concession came as he pleaded for support at a gathering of evangelical ministers, where Trump observed he was "having a tremendous problem in Utah." The same day, the billionaire celebrity acknowledged that his lack of political correctness could cost him the election if Americans reject his blunt approach.
"We're having a problem," Trump told the ministers, adding that the next president could get to nominate up to five high court justices. "It could cost us the Supreme Court." After trouncing 16 challengers in the Republican primary, Trump is encountering worrying signs as his campaign moves into the general election. Democrat Hillary Clinton's lead over Trump in national polls has widened in recent days, while a growing number of fellow Republicans have declared they won't support their own party's nominee.
Trump's exercise in self-awareness was 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. " We're going to win so big," Trump told a roaring crowd one month ago at the Republican National Convention. Yet last week, Trump was reduced to citing a poll that actually showed him a few points behind Clinton and arguing the race between them was close. Asked by CNBC how he planned to reverse Clinton's advantage, Trump said he simply planned to do "the same thing I'm doing right now."
