Reports are flying in about major Republican figures calling on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to resign. The Donald is not backing down.
The Donald: ‘I’d Never Withdraw’
It’s been an insane morning. News outlets are barely keeping up with calls from top Republican figures for Trump to resign from the campaign. However, Trump himself says he will not quit.
Robert Costa wrote today in the Washington Post:
“‘I’d never withdraw. I’ve never withdrawn in my life,’ Trump told The Washington Post in a phone call from his home in Trump Tower in New York. ‘No, I’m not quitting this race. I have tremendous support.
‘People are calling and saying, ‘Don’t even think about doing anything else but running,’ Trump said when asked about Republican defections. ‘You have to see what’s going on. The real story is that people have no idea about the support. I don’t know how that’s going to boil down, but people have no idea about the support.'”
The Donald will not back down from this, folks. His ego is far too big. He thinks he is immune to all of this. And he thinks his supporters are too stupid to care.
The List Of Republicans Opposing Trump Is Growing
We’ve seen lists of Republicans opposing The Donald several times throughout this campaign. However, now some of his die-hard supporters are calling on him to quit.
Conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, who endorsed Trump after the convention, tweeted the following this morning:
For the benefit of the country, the party and his family, and for his own good, @realDonaldTrump should withdraw. More and worse oppo coming
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) October 8, 2016
Hewitt is not endorsing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Far from it. He does, however, realize the problem the Republican party is facing.
Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), a Trump stalwart until yesterday, released the following statement on Twitter:
I will not vote for Donald Trump. Read my statement here: pic.twitter.com/F8zajgDZpg
— Kelly Ayotte (@KellyAyotte) October 8, 2016
Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), has also jumped off the Trump ship:
I can no longer endorse Donald Trump. Read my full statement: pic.twitter.com/lfa9mYZbdC
— Senator Mike Crapo (@MikeCrapo) October 8, 2016
And it’s not just coming from elected officials and commentators. Trump’s former policy coordinator Pratik Chougule wrote today on his LinkedIn page:
“Under no circumstances will I support Donald Trump for president.
I regret my decision last April to join the campaign as policy coordinator. Although I left the campaign in August for a variety of reasons, I wish that I had done so sooner and spoken out more forcefully against a candidate who embodies the worst excesses of our culture.”
Senate candidate Jim Heck (R-NV) was on stage in Nevada today with Mitt Romney, and was booed by some in the crowd when he called on Trump to resign. Romney, though, also condemned Trump’s comments, echoing what he’d said in a tweet on Friday:
Hitting on married women? Condoning assault? Such vile degradations demean our wives and daughters and corrupt America's face to the world.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) October 8, 2016
Trump Cannot Just Be Replaced
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, on the phone today with the “MSNBC Live” show at 1:12 p.m. EDT today, said the following, when asked what would happen if Donald Trump were to step down (transcribed from live feed):
“The operating rule here is Rule Nine, which deals with a vacancy of a nominee. So that only occurs in two ways. One, if he dies, or two, he resigns. There’s no mechanism for him to be removed as the nominee, so people just need to get that out of their heads. That doesn’t exist in our rules. Secondly, if he decides to step down, then more than likely what would happen would be Pence would be the first go-to. The committee would have to vote, he would need a supermajority of the delegates to vote on that. That probably would happen. But, again, you’re crunched by the clock. You’re crunched by the calendar here.
So this is one of those storms, you’re out in the middle of the ocean on it, it’s battering and beating you, you’re just gonna have to weather it out. The party has got a problem here. It’s got a big problem, and it’s not an easy one to resolve … Even if Trump decides to step down two weeks from now, what are you gonna do? If he decides tomorrow night after the debate to step down, what are you gonna do? Getting all the pieces in place to change ballots across the country, all of that, it’s just more than the party, I think, can handle.”
Of course, there’s also the fact that early voting and absentee voting has already started.
This storm just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
Featured Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license
