Following a week of high-profile blunders, Donald Trump’s antics have left the chair of the Republican National Committee “apoplectic” and his own aides “suicidal,” according to several reports.
RNC Chair Reince Priebus was reportedly “apoplectic” over Trump’s bucking the party line by refusing to back House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) or Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for re-election and called several of Trump’s staffers to voice his discontent, according to NBC’s Katy Tur.
An anonymous RNC staffer told the Huffington Post that Priebus frequently has to “talk Trump down off a ledge.”
A longtime ally of top Trump staffer Paul Manafort also told CNBC’s John Harwood that Manafort is “not challenging Trump anymore” and is “mailing it in,” while the campaign staff is “suicidal.” Manafort, for his part, denied the substance of Harwood’s report.
Jason Miller, a spokesman for the campaign, called Harwood’s reporting on Manafort “completely erroneous.”
“The idea that Paul Manafort is mailing it in is completely erroneous,” Miller said in a statement to CNN. “Our campaign just finished up our strongest month of fundraising to date, we’re adding talented and experienced staffers on a daily basis and Mr. Trump’s turning out bigger, more enthusiastic crowds than Hillary Clinton ever could.”
Top staffers “feel like they are wasting their time,” on Trump’s campaign, CNN reported.
NBC News’ Peter Alexander tweeted that an anonymous source confirmed “it’s all true” about Harwood’s reporting and that the situation is “way worse than people realize.”
Manafort is “frustrated” by the real estate mogul refusing to listen to staffers’ advice, choosing instead to react out of anger on social media.
“The problem is that Trump watches TV every minute that he isn’t actually on his phone, either talking or tweeting,” an anonymous advisor told Huffington Post. “He gets angry at what he sees on TV and reacts.”
Even so, that staffer said Manafort has come too far to quit the campaign, saying, “There is nothing Paul can do.”
This post has been updated.
All I can say is
#JUMP!
Come on, guys – gotta keep it together until the ballots are printed!
I hear Trump will be receiving an honorary Iron Cross today.
He’s earned it.
Ipso facto, it’s true.