Club For Growth Wants To Lead GOP Movement To Stop Trump At Any Cost

Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump speaks with a television reporter as he arrives at a campaign stop, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015, in Keene, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
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Without an end to Donald Trump’s presidential bid in sight, Republicans are panicking and prepping for a centralized anti-Trump campaign, according to a Washington Examiner report.

Numerous Republican operatives told the Examiner that Republicans will put up a serious fight against Trump if he continues to poll this well over the next few months.

So far, the Club for Growth has led the charge to take down Trump with negative ads. The conservative group spent a million dollars in September on two ads in Iowa attacking Trump as a liberal and going after his policies on eminent domain. The group’s president, David McIntosh, told the Examiner that those spots were the beginning of a push to take down Trump with negative ads in key states.

“We primed the pump with our ads in Iowa,” McIntosh said. “We did some polling afterward. The ads flipped Trump from first to second place among caucus-goers and put a dent in his approval rating.”

McIntosh said he is searching for donors who would like to help fund a large negative ad campaign against Trump, but he wasn’t sure whether the Club for Growth would ultimately lead the effort.

“There is no other group that has decided to do it,” he said. “There are a large number of donors and political activists who want to do it.”

McIntosh predicted that if Trump is still on top in a month and begins airing campaign ads, Republican operatives will likely unite for a take-down effort.

“Once that starts, you’ll see a lot of people saying we’ve waited long enough,” he said.

When asked about the Republican National Committee’s potential role in an effort to derail Trump’s campaign, RNC spokesman Sean Spicer told the Examiner, “None. None. Zero. It is up to Republican voters to decide who our nominee is, not the RNC.”

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