US Republicans on Wednesday struggled to deal with the fallout from US presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s widely condemned remarks on Muslims, worrying the controversial mogul could torpedo their White House hopes for next year.
The party — which hopes to end eight years of US Democratic White House rule — faces a stark choice between turning on their presidential frontrunner and tethering a 161-year-old brand to the whims of a billionaire many Americans see as a bigot.
Trump caused international outrage on Monday, when he demanded a ban on Muslims traveling to the US.
Photo: EPA/ Atlanta Journal Constitution
He currently leads US Republican polls by double digits margins over his nearest rivals.
His fellow US Republican hopefuls were among those to condemn that plan, but senior party figures have refused to throw Trump under the bus, or even rule out voting for him.
“I like and respect Donald Trump,” said US Senator Ted Cruz, who is a favorite of conservative Republicans.
“I continue to like and respect Donald Trump. While other candidates in this race have gone out of their way to throw rocks at him, to insult him, I have consistently declined to do so and I have no intention of changing that now,” Cruz said.
However, sensing trouble, Trump very bluntly warned US Republicans he might launch a third party campaign if they move against him.
That could all but kill US Republicans chances of beating former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, if she is indeed the eventual US Democratic nominee.
“A new poll indicates that 68 percent of my supporters would vote for me if I departed the GOP [Republicans] and ran as an independent,” Trump said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
A USA Today/Suffolk University survey published on Tuesday showed that he is supported by 27 percent of US Republican likely voters, a level of support that has been fixed through months of controversy.
His nearest rival, Cruz, stands on 17 percent, with US Senator Marco Rubio on 16.
Trump’s campaign has thrived on free television and social media exposure garnered by ever-more outlandish remarks.
Party elders have long taken a long view, saying he has yet to win any nominating elections, which begin in Iowa in just under two months.
“I still believe that the majority of GOP, which nominated Romney 4 yrs ago, will not nominate Trump,” Tweeted Katie Packer Gage, a key figure in former US governor Mitt Romney’s election campaign, which saw him win the nomination, but lose to US President Barack Obama.
However, US Republicans are increasingly wondering whether standing behind Trump could also spell political oblivion.
With the US demographically shifting to become less white, US Republicans can scarcely risk further alienating minority voters, who vote US Democratic in high numbers.
Trump’s comments already in the cycle — and the harsh tone on immigration sounded by others such as Cruz — the party might be more dependent than ever on just the white, conservative and evangelical voters who back Trump.
“The Republicans are in a terrible dilemma,” University of Virginia Center for Politics director Larry Sabato said.
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