Paul Ryan and GOP Dumping Trump

After the worst week for any presidential candidate in history, the Republican Party has unofficially dumped Trump. A video released by The Washington Post over the weekend showed Trump making lewd comments and sexually harassing a woman, and Trump’s lackluster performance during the second presidential debate on Sunday did not restore his fortunes.

Republican Speaker Paul Ryan announced on Monday that he will no longer campaign for Trump nor defend his statements. Ryan conceded in a conference call with fellow Republicans that Clinton will likely win the election. Ryan is now setting his sights solely on keeping control of the Congress. Ryan has not yet officially withdrawn his endorsement of Trump, but it’s clear that the party’s elite regards the nominee as more of a liability than an asset in competitive races for House and Senate seats.

Ryan’s pullout comes as the GOP is in crisis mode about how to deal with the controversial nominee. GOP operatives are complaining of “radio silence” from the upper echelons about whether to continue campaigning for Trump or to focus on down-ballot races.

A mass email sent out on Monday warned party leaders not to withdraw support from Trump. A copy of the email obtained by POLITICO reveals the GOP does not want RNC to reallocate resources to down-ballot races at Trump’s expense.

Another email sent out on Sunday night by RNC committee member Peter Goldberg urged party members not to bash “DJT” in public. “One negative word can take a vote away from our candidate,” Goldberg wrote. The fact that senior RNC officials have to encourage GOPers not to bash their own candidate in public shows just how fractured the party has become under the pressure of endless controversy brought by Trump.

POLITICO reports that many RNC members are considering doing just that. Even Trump’s own campaign is on the verge of a meltdown, wracked by a series of high-level leaks over the last few weeks. If Trump can’t keep his own campaign team from going behind his back and talking to the press, he’s got no shot of keeping the RNC from splitting away from him.

RNC Chairman Reince is under internal pressure to redirect resources away from Trump’s campaign toward down-ballot races, but critics say he won’t act publicly.

Reince may be equivocating, but Ryan has already given permission to Republicans to follow their conscience, whether that means continuing to support the disastrous Donald or backing away slowly to save their own deeply divided party.

The video released by The Washington Post has sparked an internal division within the Republican Party, with leaders and officials privately debating whether to abandon the Trump or stay the course, even at the expense of their own down-ballot races. One day after the release of the video, the RNC sent an email to ordering them to put a hold on all mailing campaigns. Vendors for Trump Victory, the spearhead campaign to get Trump into the White House, say they still don’t have a greenlight to continue mailing just 4 weeks ahead of the election.