st. louis <u+2014> republican party insiders are pressing gop leadership to shift resources away from donald trump after sunday night<u+2019>s debate, conceding they believe the cause is lost even as the national party apparatus signals publicly its commitment to press on. gop sources on sunday told politico that inside the party, few think trump has any chance of winning, and that pressure is mounting to cut bait on their presidential nominee after the friday release of damaging audio in which he talks lewdly about sexual assault. story continued below nonetheless, the rnc for now is moving ahead with a series of fundraisers this month for its joint trump victory committee with the campaign, and staffers are dutifully still knocking on doors and making calls on behalf of a candidate who has lost their confidence. <u+201c>everyone is trying to be a pro and get through the election,<u+201d> said one senior gop official who is close to trump<u+2019>s campaign. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m not super excited about it. it<u+2019>s only 30 more days.<u+201d> the message from fundraisers has become about damage control, rather than electing trump, or even defeating his democratic rival hillary clinton, according to a top bundler for trump victory. 2016 by john bresnahan and burgess everett <u+201c>really, the only alternative you<u+2019>ve got is to concede the presidency, and then you start conceding these other seats as well, and that<u+2019>s when you<u+2019>ve got a real problem,<u+201d> said the bundler. but in swing states around the country, some of the rnc<u+2019>s regional political hands are hoping that, if trump bombs sunday<u+2019>s debate, rnc chairman reince priebus will begin to shift resources to down-ballot races, according to a gop operative who communicates regularly with regional staff. <u+201c>they<u+2019>ve been awaiting further direction since the tape, because that may change either the message or the target turnout universe they go after,<u+201d> said the operative. <u+201c>everyone understands why the message might need to change; but if the rnc decides to focus exclusively on the senate, that may change who to send mail to, make calls to, etc.<u+201d> the rnc on saturday appeared to at least temporarily halt some pro-trump direct mail efforts being run through the party<u+2019>s victory program. state republican party committees and down-ballot campaigns had not been alerted to the move and, when it was revealed by politico, it prompted a spate of concerned phone calls to the rnc from party and campaign officials, according to a republican strategist familiar with the situation. the strategist described the tenor of the calls as <u+201c>wtf?<u+201d> boris epshtyn, a senior trump adviser told politico that the shift in mail strategy "wasn't a cancel. what that was, the message obviously may have to change. and all that was, was, 'hey let's hold the mail and make sure let's not put anything outdated out there'. that was from direct communication with the rnc." 2016 by edward b. foley rnc chief strategist sean spicer on sunday did not respond to requests for comment. but on saturday, he took to twitter to push back aggressively against suggestions that the change in the direct mail program represented a redirection of funds away from trump, and to reject reports that the party was officially embracing a ticket-splitting strategy in which they would work to persuade clinton voters to back republican congressional candidates. priebus, who has forcefully condemned trump<u+2019>s recorded comments, will be under even more pressure to consider those options after sunday night<u+2019>s debate if trump is unable to convincingly evince regret for <u+2014> and pivot away from <u+2014> his recorded comments. a senior gop operative who is close to trump<u+2019>s team expressed doubt that the rnc would publicly acknowledge any such move, deeming it <u+201c>an enormous titanic shift,<u+201d> but the operative conceded: <u+201c>that<u+2019>s up to reince and no one else. i understand why people would want to do that. i just think the reality of 30 days and the role of the rnc that it<u+2019>s tasked to play makes that a real doubtful scenario.<u+201d> in the meantime, scores of republican congressional candidates have independently abandoned trump, while priebus reportedly blessed rnc staffers who wanted to leave because they were concerned about reputational damage from being associated with trump. spicer also disputed the notion that priebus had told staffers to do <u+201c>what<u+2019>s best<u+201d> for them but two senior gop sources said that, in fact, more lower-level rnc staffers had quit recently because of trump , and the sources both credited priebus<u+2019>s strong repudiation of trump<u+2019>s recorded comments with staunching what could have become a wave of departures. by katie glueck and brent griffiths <u+201c>you can<u+2019>t imply that<u+2019>s acceptable and expect people to continue working,<u+201d> one senior republican staffer working on the campaign told politico. the staffer added: <u+201c>the rnc has been a safe place for people to shelter the storm. the odds are staff there won't be held accountable for people who would blame them supporting trump.<u+201d> the gop operative who communicates regularly with regional staff said: <u+201c>the folks i've been talking to inside the building have the <u+2018>i don't care<u+2019> feeling by now because they're resigned to the fact that voters are starting to cast their ballots across the country. there's very little that can be done, and there's no information to really know how much trump drags down different senate or house candidates.<u+201d> it<u+2019>s an unenviable scenario for the rnc and its staff, said veteran gop operative stuart stevens. <u+201c>they're in a very difficult position,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>their job is to support the nominee and the nominee is in trouble right now. it's kind of a rock and a hard place.<u+201d> by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
the rnc<u+2019>s trump purgatory - politico
kenneth p. vogel darren samuelsohn john bresnahan burgess everett brent griffiths jack shafer