Republican Party Leaders Frantic Over Fears That Donald Trump Might End His Presidential Run

Donald Trump is arguably the most polarizing presidential candidate of our lifetime or any other for that matter. His “wall,” feud with Megyn Kelly, and spat with Khizr Khan have all been well-documented. An unconventional candidate if there ever was one, he remains the Republican Party nominee for the next president of the United States.

However, in a shocking bit of breaking news, top Republican leaders now fear Trump might quit and end his run at the presidency before the debates take place beginning in late September. This, according to Occupy Democats, who quote ABC’s chief White House correspondent, Jon Karl, as saying that Trump dropping out of the race is a real possibility. Karl would go on to report that Republican officials are scrambling.

“This is absolutely unprecedented. First of all, I am told RNC [Republican National Convention] chairman Reince Priebus is furious, that he has had multiple discussions with Trump telling him he needs to drastically change course. But here’s the news, I am told senior officials at the party are actively exploring what would happen if Trump dropped out, how to replace him on the ballot.”

Over the last 72 hours, Trump has angered party leaders to the point that two high-profile Republican supporters have distanced themselves from the candidate. Hewlett-Packer CEO Meg Whitman and New York Congressman Richard Hanna believe Trump is unfit to serve and have crossed party lines by claiming they will vote for Hillary Clinton. President Obama recently echoed their opinions, saying Trump is “woefully unprepared” to be the president, calling for Republicans to wake up.

Donald Trump never served in the military but was offered, and accepted, a Purple Heart, stating that it was much easier to get it that way than to actually earn it. This outraged United States veterans. Not only that, but he’s also refusing to endorse the GOP’s highest-ranking members, Paul Ryan and John McCain, though they have yet to pull their support for him. And then he turned off mothers with babies when he asked for a crying baby to be removed from his recent rally in Virginia.

Jon Karl continued by saying that Trump is extremely unpredictable at the moment, to the point that Republican leaders aren’t sure of the message he’s sending, but that it’s not the one they want him to send. This is forcing them to examine the rule book on how the 168 RNC members would go about selecting a new candidate should he choose to quit. The RNC cannot force him out if he doesn’t change his message, so he would have to leave voluntarily. Regardless, Karl says many believe he would be better off if he hadn’t been in the public eye since the convention.

“I have to say the frustration is especially deep because they believe that Hillary Clinton looks vulnerable, exactly as [ABC News political analyst] Matthew [Dowd] said, and had a bad few days, the DNC has gone through a whole shake-up. She misstated what that director said about her emails. One top official told me if Trump had gone on vacation for the past two weeks, he would be in the lead. But, yes, he can still raise money and still has support among the Republican rank-and-file.”

DNC CEO Amy Dacey’s resignation is one thing, but Donald Trump quitting before engaging in a debate with Clinton would be earth-shaking. Trump has maintained that the Democrats have rigged the entire process. His latest accusation blames Hillary and company for scheduling the first two debates against NFL football games, though the debates are actually scheduled by an independent, bipartisan organization which did so well before Trump or Clinton ever accepted the nominations.

[Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Images]