Donald Trump may be "in the top 10 and likely to make the cut" in the GOP’s first nationally televised debate Aug. 6, but party leadership is scrambling to control the populist candidate as he rises in the polls and drives the election narrative, according to
The New York Times.
"Trump is just dominating the race right now, he's sucking the air out of this thing," former Virginia Rep. Thomas M. Davis told the newspaper. "Our candidates are all being forced to react to his comments."
Media reports this week that Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus called Trump and asked the brash billionaire to "tone down" his incendiary comments about illegal Mexican immigrants — he characterized them as rapists, drug-runners and criminals — offered a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes panic taking place.
A key concern, according to the Times, is Trump having a spot on the stage where he "would mar the debates, garnering attention with bluster and ensuring that the moderators would spend time asking the other candidates to respond to his inevitable provocations."
Breitbart reports that Republican donor John Jordan wants party leaders to
figure out a way to keep Trump away. Fox News has said criteria for making the cut — there are 10 spots — will be determined by an average of the five most recent national polls leading up to the debate.
"Someone in the party ought to start some sort of petition saying, 'If Trump's going to be on the stage, I'm not going to be on there with him,'" Jordan according to Breitbart. "I'm toying with the idea of it."
GOP donor, Foster Friess, who backs former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, penned a letter to Priebus and the Republican candidates pleading for civility during the debates and an end to "Republican-on-Republican violence."
"Our candidates will benefit if they all submit to Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment, 'Thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican,' according to Friess' letter, in which he cited the "backing of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts," Breitbart reports.
But Davis cautioned that the Republican Party needs to "keep (Trump) in the tent," because he could potentially do more damage if he decides to run as an independent, according to the Times.
"He's Ross Perot as an independent," said Davis. "He just wreaks havoc, and every vote he takes comes out of our hide."
Trump adviser Michael Cohen told the newspaper that the party's leadership fears Trump "because he's not part of the establishment … he's not beholden to special interests and large donors."
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