Angry with Republican leaders, Donald Trump is threatening to ‘go it alone’ without the Republican party. From CNN.com:
We have to have our Republicans either stick together or let me just do it by myself. I’ll do very well. I’m going to do very well. OK? I’m going to do very well. A lot of people thought I should do that anyway, but I’ll just do it very nicely by myself,”
Trump went on to tell Republicans to sit down and shut up,
You know the Republicans, honestly folks, our leaders, our leaders have to get tougher,” Trump said during a rally in Atlanta. “Our leaders have to get a lot tougher. And be quiet. Just please be quiet. Don’t talk. Please be quiet. Just be quiet to the leaders because they have to get tougher, they have to get sharper, they have to get smarter.”
How can Trump possibly go it alone? He has virtually no campaign infrastructures in place. He has no organization. He needs the RPV, their resources and their ground game. Trump has said he could self fund but that’s not realistic. To get a billion dollars he would have to sell a lot of property and other investments. He doesn’t have a billion in cash sitting around. He needs RNC to help him fundraise.
If Trump wants all Republican leaders to get behind him, it’s not going to happen. Too many Republican leaders have already said they won’t support Trump. Those leaders include Rep. Scott Rigell (VA02) who said:
Trump is a bully, unworthy of our nomination. My love for our country eclipses my loyalty to our party, and to live with a clear conscience I will not support a nominee so lacking in the judgment, temperament and character needed to be our nation’s commander-in-chief. Accordingly, if left with no alternative, I will not support Trump in the general election should he become our Republican nominee.”
Conservative Congressman from Nebraska Ben Sasse has made it clear he won’t support Trump,
If Trump becomes the Republican nominee my expectation is that I’ll look for some 3rd candidate – a conservative option, a Constitutionalist.”
The former Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman when asked if she would support Donald Trump for President she said:
No, I won’t. I can’t.”
The Congressman from Florida’s 26th district Carlos Curbelo said this about Trump:
This man does things and says things that I teach my 6- and 3-year-olds not to say. I could never look them in the eye and tell them that I support someone so crass and insulting and offensive to lead the greatest nation in the world.”
There are so many others who have also said they won’t support or vote for Trump including Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham. To read more quotes from Republicans who aren’t supporting the presumed nominee can be found on the bottom of this page.
Perhaps it would be better for Trump to run on his own, without the party. Republicans would then be free to chose another candidate but we all know Trump isn’t going to run without the party. He made a hollow threat, and it’s not going to work. There will continue to be many Republican leaders who will not support Trump. He’ll just have to accept that or strike out on his own without the support of the party.
