Draft for Review8/11/16 – 9:30 am
An Open Letter to Reince Priebus, Chairman, Republican National CommitteeIn every election cycle, the Republican National Committee (RNC) must makedicult decisions in the closin! months about "here to allocate its limited resources # money, time, sta$, and ads # to ensure the best possible opportunities %or the Party&s success'iven the catastrophic impact that onald *rump&s losin! presidential campai!n "ill have on do"n+ballot enate and -ouse races, "e ur!e you to immediately suspend all discretionary RNC support %or *rump and %ocus the entirety o% the RNC&s available resources on preservin! the OP&s con!ressional ma.orities' *he si!natories to this letter have "orked "ith Republican candidates and elected ocials at nearly every level' /e have served as %ormer members o% Con!ress and sta$ers at the RNC, in every Republican administration since President Rea!an, on the last seven OP presidential campai!ns, in leadership and personal oces in both the -ouse and enate, as !rassroots "orkers at the state and local level, and as dele!ates to OP conventions' /e believe that onald *rump&s divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record+breakin! unpopularity risk turnin! this election into a emocratic landslide, and only the immediate shi%t o% all available RNC resources to vulnerable enate and -ouse races "ill prevent the OP %rom dro"nin! "ith a *rump+embla0oned anchor around its neck' *his should not be a dicult decision, as onald *rump&s chances o% bein! elected president are evaporatin! by the day' ince the OP convention, less than a month a!o, he has alienated millions o% voters o% all parties by1
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Attackin! old tar %amilies o% soldiers "ho died servin! their country2
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3r!in! a hostile %orei!n !overnment to intervene in a 3'' election2
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u!!estin! that !un o"ners take action a!ainst his opponent i% she is elected2
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Repudiatin! our NA*O treaty obli!ations to protect our allies2
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Reportedly e4pressin! interest in the preemptive use o% nuclear "eapons2
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54posin! his total i!norance o% basic %orei!n policy matters2
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tatin! his admiration %or violent %orei!n autocrats2
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Re%usin! to disclose any o% his past ta4es, includin! those not under audit2 and
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eliberately and repeatedly lyin! about scores o% issues, lar!e and small' *hose recent outra!es have built on his campai!n o% an!er and e4clusion, durin! "hich he has mocked and o$ended millions o% voters, includin! the disabled, "omen, 6uslims, immi!rants, and minorities' -e also has sho"n dan!erous authoritarian tendencies, includin! threats to ban an entire reli!ion %rom enterin! the country, order the military to break the la" by torturin! prisoners, kill the %amilies o% suspected terrorists, track la"+abidin! 6uslim citi0ens in databases, and use e4ecutive orders to implement other ille!al and unconstitutional measures' *hose dis7uali%yin! elements o% *rump&s personality and positions are re8ected in his plummetin! support' As respected pollin! analyst Nate ilver recently "rote, 9recent :o4 Ne"s, 6arist Colle!e and N;C Ne"s</all treet
=ournal national polls sho
" *rump trailin! Clinton by > to ?@ percenta!e points, mar!ins that "ould make %or the lar!est !eneral election blo"out since ?>@ i% they held'BCommentin! on the 6arist poll,
The Washington Post
said, 9 *hose numbers are, to put it bluntly, shockin!' 6itt Romney "as never do"n by that much toPresident Obama in D?2 his "orst poll "as a survey in =une %rom ;loomber!that had him do"n ?E, "ith @D percent o% the vote'B On Clinton&s seven+pointlead in the pollin! avera!e, the article continued, 9Relative to 5lection ay inDD@, DD and D?, ClintonFs lead is more than t"ice that o% the eventual victor at this point' 9 Accordin! to ilver, "hose analysis correctly picked @> o% the GD states in theDD presidential election and all GD states in D?, current pollin! !ives *rump barely a ?G percent chance o% bein! elected president in November' *hat pollin! pro.ects a potential EGD electoral vote blo"out %or -illary Clinton, includin! a s"eep o% every battle!round state %rom :lorida to Pennsylvania, Ohio, 6ichi!an, /isconsin, 6innesota, Colorado, Hir!inia, and North Carolina' *rump&s across+the+board collapse has put even Republican bastions like eor!ia and Ari0ona in play' As you kno", there are very rarely lar!e shi%ts in support at this late sta!e in a presidential election cycle, particularly "ith t"o candidates as "ell kno"n to the public as the current nominees' ;eyond *rump&s likely electoral %ailure, his actions to"ard his %ello" Republicans should dis7uali%y him %rom receivin! any %urther support' ince "innin! the primaries, *rump has claimed he "ants to uni%y the party but instead has doubled do"n on vicious and ven!e%ul attacks on %ello" Republicans, includin!1