Updates

Conservatives Rebuke Trump As He Captures Republican Nomination

Updated Wednesday, July 13:

Donald Trump has captured the Republican nomination, successfully bullying his way through a crowded primary field. However, many prominent activists, journalists and elected officials in his own party have figured out what Hillary Clinton has argued all along: Donald Trump is too big a risk for America.

Take a look at the large group of prominent conservatives who are already promising that they’ll never vote for Trump:

Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: “U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday that he can not currently support Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. “I’m just not ready to do that at this point,” Ryan told CNN, adding that he hopes to be able to do so in the future.””

Texas Tribune: Bush 41, 43 Have No Plans to Endorse Trump: “For the first time since his own presidency, George H.W. Bush is planning to stay silent in the race for the Oval Office — and the younger former president Bush plans to stay silent as well. Bush 41, who enthusiastically endorsed every Republican nominee for the last five election cycles, will stay out of the campaign process this time. He does not have plans to endorse presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.”

Nevada Senator Dean Heller: “I vehemently oppose our nominee and some of the comments and issues he brought up during the campaign”

Arizona Senator Jeff Flake: “@seungminkim: .@JeffFlake on if he could support Trump: “I can’t see how I can if he continues to advocate those policies.” (such as Muslim bans + wall)”

Rep. Scott Rigell [R-VA]: “My love for our country eclipses my loyalty to our party, and to live with a clear conscience I will not support a nominee so lacking in the judgment, temperament and character needed to be our nation’s commander-in-chief. Accordingly, if left with no alternative, I will not support Trump in the general election should he become our Republican nominee.”

Former Romney staffer Garrett Jackson: “Sorry Mr. Chairman, not happening. I have to put country over party. I cannot support a dangerous phony.”

Former top Romney strategist Stuart Stevens: “I think Donald Trump has proven to be unbalanced and uniquely unqualified to be president. I won’t support him… Everyone has to make their own choice. I think Trump is despicable and will prove to be a disaster for the party. I’d urge everyone to continue to oppose him.’”

Rep. Carlos Curbelo [R-FL]: “I have already said I will not support Mr. Trump, that is not a political decision that is a moral decision.’”

Sen. Ben Sasse [R-NE]: “Mr. Trump’s relentless focus is on dividing Americans, and on tearing down rather than building back up this glorious nation. … I can’t support Donald Trump.”

Daily Caller editor Jamie Weinstein: “If it’s Trump-Hillary with no serious third party option in the fall, as hard as it is for me to believe I am actually writing these words, there is just no question: I’d take a Tums and cast my ballot for Hillary — and I suspect so would many other life-long conservatives, whether they are willing to admit it now or not.”

Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes: “This is what political division looks like. Trump’s claim to be a unifier is not just specious, it’s absurd. This casual dishonesty is a feature of his campaign. And it’s one of many reasons so many Republicans and conservatives oppose Trump and will never support his candidacy. I’m one of them.”

Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin: “With every noxious movement, dangerous leader and misguided endeavor, there are people who should know better but who cheer, enable or passively accept horrible ideas. To those cheerleading Donald Trump: Be prepared to shoulder a heavy burden, a soul-crushing weight for the next six months.”

Former McCain adviser Mark Salter: “The GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it’s on the level. I’m with her.”

RedState editor Ben Howe: “#ImWithHer”

Billionaire Bush-backer Mike Fernandez: “If I have a choice — and you can put it in bold — if I have a choice between Trump and Hillary Clinton, I’m choosing Hillary.”

Lifelong Republican, foreign policy expert Max Boot: “[Hillary Clinton] would be vastly preferable to Trump.’”

Former NJ Gov., Christine Todd Whitman on a Clinton/Trump matchup: “I will probably vote for her.”

MA Gov. Charlie Baker: “I’m not going to vote for [Donald Trump] in November.”

Former RNC Chairman Mel Martinez: “I would not vote for Trump, clearly.”

Former VA Gubernatorial candidate, Ken Cuccinelli on Trump: “When you’ve got a guy favorably quoting Mussolini, I don’t care what party you’re in, I’m not voting for that guy.”

Former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman: “Leaders don’t need to do research to reject Klan support. #NeverTrump”

Former Bush spokesman Tony Fratto: “For the thick-headed: #NeverTrump means never ever ever ever ever under any circumstances as long as I have breath never Trump.  Get it?”

Former Eric Cantor communications director, Rory Cooper: “#NeverTrump means…never. The mission of distinguishing him from Republican positions and conservative values remains critical.”

Conservative blogger Erick Erickson: “Reporters writing about the “Stop Trump” effort get it wrong. It’s ‘Never Trump’ as in come hell or high water we will never vote for Trump”

Fox News’ Steve Deace: “Apparently @secupp has a #NeverTrump list to see who keeps their word to the end. You can sign my name in blood.”

Republican strategist Patrick Ruffini: “I will never vote for @realDonaldTrump. Join me and add your name at http://NeverTrump.com . #NeverTrump”

America Rising co-founder and former Jeb Bush communications director Tim Miller: “Never ever ever Trump. Simple as that.”

Former Rep. J.C. Watts [R-OK] said he’d write-in someone before voting for Mr. Trump in November.

Former Director Of NV and MS GOP Cory Adair: “You’ll come around,” say supporters who just got done saying their candidate doesn’t need me. Nah. I won’t. #NeverTrump

Townhall editor Guy Benson: “Much to my deep chagrin (& astonishment ~8 months ago), for the 1st time in my life, I will not support the GOP nominee for president.”

DailyWire editor Ben Shapiro: “Really? #Nevertrump. Pretty easy.”

Wisconsin conservative radio host Charles Sykes: “I suppose I should clarify: #NeverTrump means I will nevereverunderanycircusmtances vote for @realDonaldTrump”

Editor at RedState, Dan McLaughlin: “For the first time since turning 18, I will not vote for the Republican candidate for President.”

George Mason law professor, Republican David Bernstein: “ “I’d rather Hillary Clinton win. I’d rather (and I never thought I’d say this)… If Trump wins the nomination, I will actively seek to prevent him from becoming president.”

Conservative columnist George Will: “If Trump is nominated, Republicans working to purge him and his manner from public life will reap the considerable satisfaction of preserving the identity of their 162-year-old party while working to see that they forgo only four years of the enjoyment of executive power.”

Redstate contributor Leon Wolf: “I will never vote for Donald Trump. I will not vote for him in the general election against Hillary, and I would not vote for him in a race for dogcatcher. Heck, I would not even vote for him on a reality television show.”

Former Romney adviser Kevin Madden: “I’m prepared to write somebody in so that I have a clear conscience.”

Pete Wehner, former speechwriter for George W. Bush: “I will not vote for Donald Trump if he wins the Republican nomination.”

Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard: “Donald Trump should not be president of the United States. The Wall Street Journal cannot bring itself to say that. We can say it, we do say it, and we are proud to act accordingly.”

Counselor to U.S. Department of State under President George W. Bush: “I will oppose Trump as nominee. Won’t support & won’t work for him for more reasons than a Tweet can bear.”

Former Jeb Bush digital director Elliott Schwartz: “In case there is confusion about #NeverTrump.”

Doug Heye, Former RNC communications director: “I cannot support Donald Trump were he to win the Republican nomination.”

Former IL GOP Chairman Pat Brady said he’d back a third-party candidate or “just stay home” if Mr. Trump is the nominee.

Washington Examiner’s Phillip Klein: “I have officially de-registered as a Republican.”

Hypeline News’ Kyle Foley: “I’m willing, if need be, to vote Hillary. That’s how strong my disdain is for Trump #NeverTrump”

Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson: “I registered Republican when I was 18 because I thought free markets and liberty were important. Not sure what “Republican” means today.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert [R-TX]: “Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert balked at backing Trump without an apology for his rhetoric toward Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and warned that Trump could cost Republicans a majority in Congress. “I had no fear of losing the House until I saw this weekend the commercial against Sen. John Boozman in Arkansas. They run quote after quote from Donald Trump’s mouth,” Gohmert told Fox Business Network. “This is a dangerous time.””

Rep. Ann Wagner [R-MO]: “A candidate has to earn my vote. And thus far, Donald Trump has not.”

Rep. Justin Amash [R-MI]: “U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, the Grand Rapids area Republican who first endorsed Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and then Cruz for the GOP nomination, has said he would not vote for Trump.”

New Hampshire State Rep. Bill O’Brien: “Conservative leader Bill O’Brien, a state legislator and former House Speaker who served as Cruz state co-chairman, said he would not endorse Trump.”

Ohio State Senator Shannon Jones: “If Trump is the nominee, Jones said she will not vote for a candidate in the election for president.”

Former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling: “What are more traditional Republicans, who are not at all comfortable with Trump, supposed to do?”

Alan Steinberg, former regional EPA administrator under George W. Bush: “Said he’s actually voting for Hillary Clinton, with whom he worked when she was U.S. senator for New York. “She can work with people on the opposite side of the political aisle,” he said.”

Elliott Abrams, former foreign policy advisor for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W.

Bush: “won’t be voting for Trump”

Andy Card, former White House Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush: “I’d probably write in a name.”

CatholicVote: “We will not endorse Donald Trump for President at this time.”

New York Times: With Donald Trump in Charge, Republicans Have a Day of Reckoning: “Over the last two days, more than 70 Republican governors, senators, representatives, officials and donors were contacted directly or through aides for comments about Mr. Trump. Only about 20 replied, with many aides saying their bosses did not want to take a stand yet; others begged off by saying the officials were traveling or “too busy” to email, call or release a statement.”

Bloomberg: Big-Spending Fracking Family Behind Cruz Won’t Back Trump: “Add the conservative Wilks family of Texas, among the biggest spenders in the presidential race so far, to the list of donors who won’t support Donald Trump in the general election.”

Politico: The [GOP] donor class remains unswayed: “Republican donors want nothing to do with Donald Trump […] in interviews with more than a dozen major GOP funders, not one on Wednesday would commit to donating to Trump.

Washington Examiner: Conservative national security experts vow to keep fighting against

Trump: “Conservative national security experts who vowed not to support Donald Trump are saying nothing has changed now that he is the presumptive nominee. “When I said ‘never Trump,’ I meant it,” Colin Dueck, an associate professor at George Mason University’s School of Policy, Government and International Affairs, told the Washington Examiner. Dueck was one of 121 conservative national security experts who signed an open letter in March promising to work “energetically to prevent the election of someone so utterly unfitted to the office.””

Washington Post: ‘I feel like I got smacked by a 2x4’: Va. Republicans react to Trump as the likely nominee: With the departure of Ted Cruz from the presidential race Tuesday night, many national Republican loyalists lamented the future of a party that could field a nominee as polarizing as Donald Trump. But the news was particularly jarring for Virginia Republicans fresh off two days of party warfare at a state convention where Cruz came out on top.”

Loudon Times-Mirror [Virginia]: High-profile Virginia Republicans lining up against Donald Trump: “Many long-time Virginia Republicans found themselves despondent Wednesday after Donald Trump became the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee. “Twenty-nine years of Republican activism down the drain,” former state Del. David Ramadan, a Dulles-area conservative, told the Times-Mirror. “I feel like someone stuck a knife in me.””

The Hawk Eye [Burlington, Iowa]: Republicans diverge on Trump as nominee, question conservative values: “Angie Davidson of Wapello resigned her position as chairwoman of the Louisa County Republican Party in March after the county convention. She now supports Libertarian presidential candidate Austin Peters and will not vote Republican in the November general election.”

NBC New York: Donald Trump Faces GOP Backlash in NJ as He Becomes Likely Presidential Nominee: “Steve Lonegan, who once ran against Chris Christie for governor, was state chair for Cruz. Now he’s packing up what’s left of the campaign, buttons, stickers and all. “I’m not going to say I’m voting for Hillary. I’m also not voting for Donald Trump,” he said. “I may not vote.””

Wisconsin Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke: Steineke  ”who has called Trump “a liberal and a liar,” hedged in his opposition, but said Wednesday he does not currently support the presumptive nominee.”

Burglinton, Iowa Tea Party Chairwoman Rose Kendall: “At this point, Kendall said she was unlikely to vote in November for any candidate.”

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum: “Rick Santorum said on Wednesday that he would not endorse Donald Trump yet, saying that he would ‘sit on sidelines’ of the presidential race for the time being.”

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner: “Rauner aides stressed there are various levels of ‘support,’ and that the governor would not be giving Trump a formal endorsement.”

Rep. Barbara Comstock [R-VA]: “Comstock… listed several reasons why she felt the billionaire businessman was not a good role model, including his derogatory remarks about women and prisoners of war, and for not immediately disavowing the Ku Klux Klan.  ‘All of these things are hugely problematic and don’t represent our party,’ she said at that time. ‘I don’t think somebody should represent my party who disrespects America’s veterans. We’re the party of Lincoln. We’re the party of Reagan.’”

Rep. Charlie Dent [R-PA]: “With the Republican nomination now secured for Donald Trump, he has a great deal of work to do to convince many Americans, myself included, that he is prepared and able to lead this great nation.”

Vermont Lt. Governor Phil Scott: “I cannot vote for Donald Trump,” Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican candidate for governor, said Wednesday during a break from presiding over the Senate. Scott has condemned Trump throughout the presidential campaign, once referring to him as “offensive.”

Former Rep. Bob Inglis [R-SC]: “@bobinglis: Very proud of Speaker Ryan: Paul Ryan Says He Cannot Support Donald Trump for Now”

Rep. John Katko [R-NY]: “Any candidate has to earn my vote, including Donald Trump. He has a lot of work to do in that regard. I’m concerned with some of the comments he’s made, and with the general tone that he’s taken.”

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference: “To date Donald Trump’s comments about immigration have been inflammatory, impractical and unhelpful,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “Now that he is the presumptive nominee, we call upon him to immediately stop rhetorical commentary he has previously used that discredits groups, including Latino immigrants.”

Eleanor May, former Rand Paul presidential campaign Press Secretary: “I can’t vote for Donald Trump […] and I fear that by nominating Donald Trump the GOP will forever lose the youth vote.”

Doug Elmets, former press staffer in the Reagan White House: “It’s a bitter pill, but supporting Hillary Clinton is a much better alternative to the xenophobic Donald Trump,” Elmets wrote.

Mac Stipanovich, former Chief of Staff to Gov. Bob Martinez: “On a personal level, Trump is a boor, a bully, a carnival barker and an embarrassment. Politically, by intent or instinct, he is a neo-fascist… He appeals to our fears, preys on our anxieties and exploits our ignorance. A worse candidate to sit in the Oval Office for the next four years cannot be imagined.”

Andy Card, former White House Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush: “When he started to gain traction, I became a cynic. I wasn’t sure he could make it. I was saying, ‘sane people will recognize this is not going to happen.’ Well, it happened. He scared me.”

Mitt Romney: Politico: “Add Mitt Romney to the list of Republicans who won’t support Donald Trump as the presumptive party nominee… The former Massachusetts governor said he is ‘dismayed at where we are now’ and wishes Americans had ‘better choices.’”

Rep. Ileana Ros – Lehtinen [R-FL]: “I don’t plan to vote for Donald Trump,” she said. “I don’t feel in my heart that I could support him.”

GOP Senate candidate Chris Vance: Vance, who is challenging four-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, blasted Trump’s views on trade, economics and foreign policy as “naive,” “wrongheaded” and “insane.”  As a former state GOP chairman, Vance said he takes “no joy” in refusing to support his party’s presidential candidate, “but I must place conscience and principle ahead of party.”

Former Gov. George V. Voinovich [R-OH]: “I wish we had a better candidate”

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer: “I’m not endorsing Donald Trump. He hasn’t earned my vote.”

Former Gov. Bob Taft [R-OH]: “Personally, I have very deep reservations about Trump.”

Former Lt. Gov. Bruce E. Johnson [R-OH]: “Donald Trump hasn’t impressed me at all with his ‘wall’ nonsense, the trade wars, the nuclear proliferation and his bullying attitude….I think for the sake of Rob Portman and (Westerville-area U.S. Rep.) Pat Tiberi and other state and local officials, I hope (Republicans) go to the polls. Whether they can find it in their conscience to vote for Donald Trump, I couldn’t care less.”

State Sen. Shannon Jones [R-OH]: “said just because Trump is now the Republican nominee ‘that doesn’t mean I have to support him.’”

Ward Baker, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee:  “In a new sign of the Republican Party’s reservations about Mr. Trump, the top strategist in charge of defending Republican control of the Senate said in a briefing for lobbyists and donors on Thursday that the party’s candidates should feel free to skip the nominating convention in Cleveland in July.”

Dan Senor, former advisor to Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney: “Dan Senor… said Mr. Trump’s dismissive attitude toward his critics could have crippling consequences in a general election.”

Bill Kristol: “You embrace the endorsement of a rapist in Mike Tyson, a man convicted of raping a 17-year old girl, and you don’t express any, when it’s pointed out to you, you don’t say, “Yeah, well that was horrible” […] On the day of the Indiana primary, he spins this conspiracy story […] about Ted Cruz’ father being complicit in the assassination of a president of the United States. […] You know, for me, the one thing, though […] —it was the mocking of the disabled New York Times reporter, which is such a humanely grotesque thing to do, and then he just lies and says “I didn’t do it.”

Lindsey Graham:  “I do not believe he is a reliable Republican conservative…do not believe he is a reliable GOP conservative nor has he displayed the judgment and temperament to serve as Commander in Chief.”

Jeb Bush: “Donald Trump has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character. He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And, he is not a consistent conservative. These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy.”

Jennifer Nassour, former chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican Party: “I’m hopeful that there will be someone else who is challenging Trump on the Republican ticket at the convention. If not, then write someone in. It’s a shame to just waste our vote, but I cannot see myself voting for Trump.”

Mac Stipanovich, former Chief of Staff to Gov. Bob Martinez: “If I thought the election hung on my vote, I would probably vote for Hillary Clinton, anything would be better than Donald Trump. He would be a disaster for the Republican Party and harmful to the nation.”

Max Boot, Former Advisor to Marco Rubio: “Trump is an ignorant demagogue who traffics in racist and misogynistic slurs and crazy conspiracy theories. … The risk of Trump winning, however remote, represents the biggest national security threat that the United States faces today.”

Ross Douthat: “His unfitness starts with basic issues of temperament. It encompasses the race-baiting, the conspiracy theorizing, the flirtations with violence, and the pathological lying that have been his campaign-trail stock in trade.”

Jennifer Rubin: “But it is really fundamentally an issue of character. When people look at Donald Trump and they see how he treats women, they see his views on foreigners, they see his lack of personal self-control, his meanness. Just this week he was back lying again.”

Rep. Bob Dold [R-IL]: “Dold said, even if Trump walked back his comments on women, Muslims, Latinos, and POWs, he still would not vote for him.”

Rep. Will Hurd [R-TX]: “[Hurd] said that Donald Trump will have to shape up before he gets Hurd’s support.”

Former Senator Gordon Humphrey [R-NH]: ““Unequivocally, I am not supporting Donald Trump. … I think he is a sociopath.””

Former NJ Gov. Christine Todd Whitman: “As I have said numerous times before, Donald Trump is simply unfit to be president. We have all seen his bullying, misogyny and provoking of racial hatred.”

Rick Wilson, Republican consultant: “It isn’t just that we loathe him personally (though that’s easy to do with his horror-show affect); it’s that we reject his core political philosophy of statism.”

Politico: Trump’s empty administration: “…a vast number of highly skilled managers and policy experts, veterans of recent GOP administrations who would normally be expected to fill key positions for a new White House, are also vowing to sit out a Donald Trump presidency.”

Jennifer Rubin: “Truth be told, the character issues with Trump are so enormous (dishonesty, bigotry, misogyny, lack of impulse control, etc.) that there are many conservatives who will never accept him. Judging from his conduct over the past few days, Trump is making it easier for principled Republicans to reject him.

Michael Gerson, conservative commentator: “Those who support Trump, no matter how reluctantly, have crossed a moral boundary. They are standing with a leader who encourages prejudice and despises the weak. They are aiding the transformation of a party formed by Lincoln’s blazing vision of equality into a party of white resentment.”

Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal columnist: “What isn’t survivable is a Republican president who is part Know Nothing, part Smoot-Hawley and part John Birch. The stain of a Trump administration would cripple the conservative cause for a generation.”

John Weaver, Chief Strategist for John Kasich: On working for Trump: “Under no circumstances. I’m an American first. And I don’t want to elaborate on that.” On whether Kasich would be Trump’s VP: “Under no circumstances. … If you’re the kind of conservative who believes that everyone matters, that this is about uniting … where does that fit into what Donald Trump has said?”

Mac Stipanovich, former Chief of Staff to Gov. Bob Martinez: “Let’s talk about his pledge to deport 12 million illegal aliens. Anybody who believes that the United States of America is going to round up, transport, guard, house, feed and deport 12 million people, twice as many as Stalin managed to deport in 30 years of trying, is a fool.”

Paul Singer, “GOP Megadonor”: “said Monday evening that conservatives must “stand up for what we believe, which is not embodied by either choice on the menu in November.””

Deborah DeMoss Fonseca, spokeswoman for Conservatives Against Trump: “To those Trumpsters who are criticizing us and saying we have a duty to vote for the Republican Party, I would say, at what cost?”

Ohio Auditor Dave Yost: “an early resident of the never-Trump camp, took to Facebook to express his disappointment, writing of the New Yorker’s ‘utter lack of principled convictions.’”

Senator Marco Rubio [R-FL]: “While Republican voters have chosen Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee, my previously stated reservations about his campaign and concerns with many of his policies remain unchanged.”

Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: “We have right now a disunified Republican Party. We shouldn’t sweep it under the rug without addressing it. That would be to our detriment in the fall.”

Rep. Martha McSally [R-AZ]: “McSally said she’s not ready to endorse the presumptive nominee just as yet.”

Washington Post: Donald Trump is terrible. Good thing there’s this ‘nominee’ guy!: “But fortunately for senators in tough, competitive seats, there is another option. You don’t have to endorse Trump. You can just support the Nominee of the Party. These are not the same thing at all! They are quite different. The Nominee is everything Trump isn’t.”

Rosario Marin, former U.S. Treasurer under President George W. Bush: “I have been the spokesperson for five presidential Republican campaigns. I have attended the previous five Republican national conventions. I’m not going this year, and I am not campaigning for him. I would never, never, ever vote for the little orange man.

Jennifer Rubin: Who wants to defend Trump for the next six months?: “Donald Trump’s noxious behavior and erratic views force his supporters to condone all sorts of unacceptable things. Even his own advisers find it hard to excuse his conduct.”

Rep. Tim Huelskamp [R-KS]: “I can’t get comfortable with a candidate if I’m worried about what he’ll say in front of my 9-year old that’s vulgar and crass. I cannot have him in front of that television with what Donald Trump has been saying.”

Andrew Weinstein, deputy press secretary to then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich: Five Reasons My Fellow Republicans Should Vote for Hillary Clinton: “The best way to save the GOP is a Clinton victory. A Trump win could create an institutional bond between the GOP and the racist demagoguery and proposals Mr. Trump has espoused while simultaneously abandoning the party’s positive messages of inclusion, growth, prosperity, and individual liberty. ​If Republicans rally behind Mr. Trump, the White House is likely to be lost for a generation.”

Mac Stipanovich, former Chief of Staff to Gov. Bob Martinez: “If the RNC is going to spend money to elect Donald Trump, then I won’t give them money.”

BuzzFeed: Big Money Republicans Reluctant To Go All In On Trump: “Several major GOP bundlers … who were major players during Mitt Romney’s campaign said they are reluctant to fundraise for Trump. “I’m waiting for the Second Coming,” one said. … “The guy kept saying ‘I don’t need your money,’ now he’s asking for their money?” said another Republican operative with ties to donors. “What it’s about is, he kept pissing all over the idea of a donor class.””

Doug Heye, Former RNC communications director: “That’s one of the things that troubles so many people on the Republican side about Donald Trump. There are no policy specifics. There are no real solutions. As you mentioned, there are tons of villains, you can pick a different villain of the day. But there aren’t serious policy solutions.”

RGA Finance Chair Fred Malek: “He seems to be taking the position that – ‘Hey, he’s the nominee so you’ve got to get behind him.’ Well, it doesn’t work that way.”

The Hill: GOP hopefuls struggle with support of Trump: “Vulnerable Republican Senate hopefuls are struggling to find the right tone about Donald Trump’s rise to the top of the party’s ticket, weighing how to appeal to moderates without casting aside their base. They’re choosing their words carefully as Democrats begin trying to tie them to their party’s presumptive presidential nominee in the hopes that doing so will help flip Senate control.”

Former VA Gubernatorial candidate, Ken Cuccinelli: ““A lot of us are just hanging back, not casting judgment on him as the nominee at this point,” Cuccinelli said, noting that he recently told Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, that movement conservatives want to see some “overlap on positions and on beliefs” before giving Trump their support.”

Sun Sentinel Editorial: Bush anti-Trump stance beats Rubio’s: “Since Trump is the only candidate remaining, that means Rubio intends to support a con man he fears will initiate a nuclear holocaust.”

Senator Mike Lee [R-UT]: “said Wednesday that Donald Trump “scares me to death” and that he still has concerns about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and isn’t ready to endorse him.”

Former top Romney strategist Stuart Stevens: “The looming Republican nominee is same guy who would imitate being a spokesman for himself. Sounds stable.”

Providence Journal Editorial: GOP Rebellion against Trump: “Mr. Trump’s bombast, insults and unsuitability have turned off many Republican politicians, activists and thinkers. So much so, they insist they will sit out the entire presidential race.”

Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado: “Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado remembers walking to school as a young man in Miami and getting heckled. “They said, ‘Spic, go back home,’” he recalled in an interview with the Miami Herald. “Because I had very dark hair.” That discrimination still feels raw for the 68-year-old, now silver-haired, mayor, who was born in Cuba. And the memory is one of the reasons why he said he won’t vote for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in November.”

Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin: “Bevin maintains that no one has the Republican nomination definitely locked up until the convention in Cleveland, which he plans to attend. “Let me see who it will be,” he said, when asked whether he will support Donald Trump. “More than the party, I’m interested in people who are conservative. Sadly, the most conservative people are no longer in the race.””

Charlotte Observer: Republican financier Art Pope says he won’t support Donald Trump: “Art Pope, a North Carolina businessman and major financial backer of Republican candidates, said Thursday he won’t support Donald Trump for president.”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger [R-IL]: “I’d love to eventually get to where I can endorse the Republican nominee. I’m a Republican, but the Republican nominee has to talk like a Republican. He has to have some Republican values. And frankly, he has to be worthy of inheriting the job of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan and the tone I hear from Donald Trump is not there yet.”

Rep. Tim Huelskamp [R-KS]: “And it’s not just – it’s not just me, but I think there are millions of soccer moms, football dads, baseball dads across America, and they’re trying to raise their children in a tough culture.  And here they have a presidential candidate who is demeaning the women, he’s vulgar, he’s crass, I don’t know where they’re going to go. […] Again, I have a nine-year-old and he can’t even listen to the guy on television.  How will he bridge that gap?”

Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: “U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville remained unwilling Saturday to say if he would endorse Trump.”

AP: Donald who? Wisconsin Republicans avoid talking Trump: “Mixed feelings about presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump were on full display Saturday at the Wisconsin GOP convention, with Gov. Scott Walker and other officeholders not even speaking his name.”

Robert Gates, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense: “Well, I have some real issues with things he said about national security policy and some concerns. I think there are some contradictions. You can’t have a trade war with China and then turn around and ask them to help you on North Korea. I have no idea what his policy would be in terms of dealing with ISIS. I worry a little bit about his admiration for Vladimir Putin.”

Rep. Tom Cole [R-OK]: “Over the course of the campaign, he’s already said some things that he ought to regret. And I think he will regret politically…”

Conservative columnist George Will: “The interesting thing is the mating dance between Donald Trump and Paul Ryan. In a statement issued after their meeting, but I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts written before the meeting, they refer to our few differences, they spoke of our many important areas of common ground and urged Republicans to unite around our shared principles, to which one response is name one, one shared principle.”

Michael Gerson, conservative commentator: Conservatives make a deal with the devil: “It is humorous — in a sad, bitter, tragic sort of way — to see Republican leaders, and some conservative commentators, try to forget or minimize Trump’s history of odious proposals and statements. The argument seems to be: “I say tomato. You say Mexican immigrants are rapists. What’s the big difference?””

Tom Ridge, Former Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush: “With a bumper sticker approach to policy, his bombastic tone reflects the traits of a bully, not an American president and statesman. If he cannot unite Republicans, how can he unite America? I simply cannot endorse him.”

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez: “Republican Miami-Dade mayor won’t make presidential endorsement: the mayor, who has golfed with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, still refused to pick a side. “I’m not going to make a statement about anything,” he said.”

Ohio Governor John Kasich: “John Kasich has yet to decide whether to back presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump and is “not inclined” to serve as Trump’s vice presidential candidate, saying the controversial billionaire needs to take a unifying tone.”

Eliot Cohen, Counselor to U.S. Department of State under President George W. Bush: “Mr. Trump’s temperament, his proclivity for insult and deceit and his advocacy of unpredictability would make him a presidential disaster — especially in the conduct of foreign policy, where clarity and consistency matter.”

Jeb Bush: “First, not all Hispanics are Mexican… Secondly, not all Hispanics eat tacos. Thirdly, showing your sensitivity by eating an American dish is the most insensitive thing you can do. Fourthly, to say this, next to all things he already said, is a further insult. It’s like eating a watermelon and saying ‘I love African-Americans.’… If we lose in November, we Republicans have ourselves to blame.”

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R-FL]: On supporting Donald Trump: “No, I’m not. And who would have ever thought when I did that interview that talking about having a transgender son would be more comfortable than saying I’m not going to support my Republican party nominee?”

Rep. Reid Ribble [R-WI]: “Ribble…remains deeply opposed to Donald Trump while his party begins to rally around him. “It’s an unrecoverable relationship, let me put it that way,” Ribble says of his attitude toward the New York developer, a candidate he says lacks the temperament to be president.”

Ken Cobb, Chair Beltrami County, Minnesota Republicans: “Speaking on my behalf … I am concerned about our presumptive nominee, that he is at odds with the principles that make our party what it is,” Cobb said. “I’m concerned that he will do considerable damage just by association to our candidates who are conservatives.”

John Weaver, former Chief Strategist for John Kasich: “I think a combination of his rhetoric, his inability to bring people together, which is what you have to do in swing stages like Michigan, … are going to put Michigan out of reach for him.”

Minnesota State GOP Convention Delegate Walter Hudson: “We want to send a clear message that Republicans in Minnesota categorically reject the divisive candidacy of Donald Trump.”

Andrews McLane, Major Romney 2012 Contributor: “I’m sitting this one out… In good conscience, I could not vote for that man. He shoots before he aims – over and over and over again.”

Beau Correll, Virginia Republican delegate: “We deserve better than someone that has adolescent temper tantrums to be commander-in-chief of our nuclear arsenal and 450-ship Navy.”

Wisconsin conservative radio host Charles Sykes: “Asked what he might do given the looming choices this November, fervent anti-Donald Trump talk radio host Charlie Sykes had a simple response. Root for the Green Bay Packers.”

Daily Caller: David Koch Pledges Millions To Gary Johnson’s Presidential Bid: “Billionaire businessman and philanthropist David Koch has pledged “tens of millions of dollars” to help bankroll the campaign of Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, according to a source within Johnson’s campaign.”

Rolling Stone: R.I.P., GOP: How Trump Is Killing the Republican Party: “After Indiana, a historic chasm opened in the ranks of the party. The two former President Bushes, along with Mitt Romney, announced they wouldn’t attend Trump’s coronation at the convention in Cleveland. Additionally, House Speaker Paul Ryan refused to say he would support the nominee. There were now two Republican Parties.”

Steele County, MN Republican Party Chair Dave Thul Resigned In Opposition To Trump: “We’re a party of freedom and we’re a party of limited government… Those are things that he has not espoused on the campaign trail. we’re sending a signal that the type of vulgar attacks and personal attacks that are his stock and trade have no place in politics, especially here in Minnesota.”

Newsweek: How the GOP Can Survive Trump: “Republican leaders are convinced he will create a tidal wave of losses for the GOP in November. The coolness to—and outright rejection of—Trump is widespread within the party. Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, has not endorsed him. Representatives Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) and Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), both facing re-election, have said Trump has to earn their vote. Then there are those who have said they will not endorse Trump under any circumstances, including Senators Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.). Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has been among the most vocal critics.”

Seth Klarman, New England’s Top Campaign Contributor: “Boston billionaire Seth Klarman, president of the private investment firm The Baupost Group and New England’s number one campaign contributor, said through a representative that he would not — now or in the future — donate to Trump’s campaign.”

The Hill: Tough choice for vulnerable GOP senators: Embrace or reject Trump: “Historically, vulnerable congressional candidates who distance themselves from their parties’ nominees have had mixed results. Many Senate Republicans face those prospects this year, with forecasters predicting a historic down-ticket drag caused by controversial presumptive nominee Donald Trump.”

Rep. Peter King [R-NY]: “I still have real questions with him as far as national security. I don’t think his Asian policy is coherent, because, again, if he does want to get in a trade war with China, he has to explain how that coincides with him wanting to use China against North Korea. If he wants to have leverage over China, how can he be talking about taking troops out of Japan and Korea?”

Washington Post: Dear Republicans: ‘Endorse’ and ‘support’ mean the same thing: “Trump’s unpredictability as a candidate, coupled with his deeply negative poll numbers among a number of swing voting blocs, make him a dangerous figure for vulnerable incumbents. Totally abandon Trump and run the risk of the GOP base, who clearly chose him as the party’s presidential nominee, abandoning you. Stick too closely to Trump and you could lose any chance of wooing independent and Democratic-leaning voters you need to win. It’s a lose-lose.”

Business Insider: Some of the GOP’s most vulnerable candidates are doing verbal gymnastics to avoid Donald Trump: “Following Donald Trump’s success in the primaries, many Republican Senate candidates seeking reelection in 2016 have been faced with a dilemma: Do they endorse Trump or run away from him? Many are instead trying a third option. Republicans are developing some creative ways to distance themselves from the presumptive nominee without alienating his fervent supporters.”

Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: “In @GlennThrush interview, @SpeakerRyan won’t say if he thinks Trump is conservative, compares him to rudderless ship.”

Rep. Mia Love [R-UT]:”Love — who represents Utah, where support for Trump has been tepid — said anyone’s offensive comment “deserves some sort of explanation.” She said she’s not endorsed Trump and wouldn’t want him campaigning with her. “I am not Donald Trump. And Donald Trump is not Utah,” she said.”

Connecticut investor Michael K. Vlock: “Michael K. Vlock, a Connecticut investor who has given nearly $5 million to Republicans at the federal level since 2014, said he considered Mr. Trump a dangerous person. “He’s an ignorant, amoral, dishonest and manipulative, misogynistic, philandering, hyper-litigious, isolationist, protectionist blowhard,” Mr. Vlock said. Mr. Vlock said he might give to Hillary Clinton instead.”

CBS: Washington state GOP snubs Trump in delegate elections: “At the Washington state Republican convention this weekend, 40 of the state’s 41 elected GOP delegates went not to Trump but to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump’s primary challenger in the race. … Even Trump’s state campaign chairman in Washington, state Sen. Don Benton, didn’t snag a delegate slot in the anti-Trump crowd.”

NY Times: Key G.O.P. Donors Still Deeply Resist Donald Trump’s Candidacy: “A powerful array of the Republican Party’s largest financial backers remain deeply resistant to Donald J. Trump’s presidential candidacy, forming a wall of opposition that could make it exceedingly difficult for him to meet his goal of raising $1 billion before the November election. … More than a dozen of the party’s most reliable individual contributors and wealthy families indicated that they would not give to or raise money for Mr. Trump. This group has contributed a combined $90 million to conservative candidates and causes in the last three federal elections.”

RGA Finance Chair Fred Malek: “Yes, there are a number of donors who are holding back - a number of my friends, good friends, who are very good Republicans are holding back.”

Rep. Barbara Comstock [R-VA]: “Questioned about Trump, Rep. Barbara Comstock kept walking but said she has a record of “leading for women” in her Virginia district outside Washington, D.C. She steered a reporter to a previous comment to The Washington Post that Trump “needs to earn the votes of me and many others.””

Washington Post: In anti-Trump district, Comstock keeps her distance from presumptive nominee: “That other Donald Trump — the one who wants to win the White House, temporarily ban Muslims and deport undocumented immigrants — is one Comstock is trying to ignore as she seeks a second term in her diverse Virginia district.”

LA Times: These Republicans couldn’t possibly vote for Trump, but will they go for Clinton?“Atlanta-area attorney Mathew Titus, a faithful Republican and suburban father of three, is so disheartened with Donald Trump as the presumed GOP nominee he plans to sit out the presidential election this year. … “That the party, the electorate, would favor Trump is crazy in my mind,” said Titus, adding that several of his friends feel the same way. “I definitely feel like an orphan …. Am I even part of this party?””

Associated Press: Most House GOP women in tough races biding time on Trump: “House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has withheld his endorsement, citing questions about policy and party unity while giving cover to hesitant rank-and-file Republicans. Male congressional Republicans in difficult races and women in secure seats are also distancing themselves.”

Rep. Ann Wagner [R-MO]:”I think it puts all women in an awkward position,” Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., whose seat is safe and is a leader of the House GOP campaign committee, said of Trump’s impact on female Republican lawmakers. “And I want to see that tone and temperament changed.”

Washington Post: Mitt Romney will skip Trump’s nominating convention in Cleveland: Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, plans to skip this summer’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland where Donald Trump will be officially nominated – an unusual move that underscores the deep unease many Republican leaders have about the brash celebrity mogul as their standard bearer.

Former Senator Bob Dole: “Despite the fact that Bob Dole is attending the RNC this year, he will not commit to voting for the Republican nominee in November.”

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder: “Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican in his second and final term as governor, maintained a distance from the political race. His spokesman, Ari Adler, said Wednesday that Snyder was “not planning on getting involved in the presidential election right now, as he has too many immediate challenges to address,” including  the Flint water crisis and funding for Detroit schools.”

Albuquerque Journal: Martinez not ready to endorse Trump: Republican Gov. Susana Martinez isn’t endorsing the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Donald Trump – not now, anyway.

Rep. Rod Blum [R-IA]: “Did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Register” about whether he would support Trump.

Reps. Steve Stivers & Pat Tiberi [R-OH]: “Neither House member mentioned whether they’d support Trump.”

Rep. Steve King [R-IA]: “I’ve never seen a nominee pour out so many insults on other people as Donald Trump has,” King said. “This isn’t the day to highlight all those and grind through all that, but I’ll say this: Donald Trump will have to reach out to conservatives and do some convincing.”

Politico: McCain on tape: Trump damages my reelection hopes: ““If Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket, here in Arizona, with over 30 percent of the vote being the Hispanic vote, no doubt that this may be the race of my life,” McCain said, according to a recording of the event obtained by POLITICO. “If you listen or watch Hispanic media in the state and in the country, you will see that it is all anti-Trump. The Hispanic community is roused and angry in a way that I’ve never seen in 30 years.””

Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin: “Even though Donald Trump cleared the Republican presidential field after his victory Tuesday in Indiana and became the presumptive GOP nominee, Bevin, a Republican, said Thursday that it would be a mistake to endorse anyone yet.”

Joe Straus, Texas House Speaker: “I thought the speaker of the U.S. House had some interesting comments yesterday,” Straus told The Texas Tribune on Friday when asked if he planned to back Trump.  Pressed on whether he was agreeing with Ryan, Straus replied, “I will just say that I thought his comments were well-thought out and made a lot of sense to me.”

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers [R-WA]: “Count Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers among the Republican lawmakers who are hesitant about Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee….‘I would like to ask him questions about some of the statements he’s made.’  McMorris Rodgers said some of those questions would be about Trump’s statements regarding women, words she called ‘hurtful’ and ‘inappropriate’ in an interview with the New York Times in March.”

New Republic: Republicans Cannot Give Up on #NeverTrump: “Nearly the entire GOP elite, including the segment of the elite making peace with Trump, is aghast at his nomination.”

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers [R-WA]: “The House’s top-ranking GOP woman, said last week she is voting for Trump though “not exactly” with enthusiasm and “vehemently” opposes his remarks about women, the disabled and others.”

Conservative blogger Erick Erickson: “If the Republican Party wants to go in [Trump’s] direction, I guess I’m not a Republican anymore … I think it’s going to be a pretty big loss for Donald Trump in November, and down-ballot devastation for Republicans.”

Washington Examiner: Young Republican official resigns over ‘racist, hateful’ Trump: “A Young Republican official announced on Monday evening that she is resigning her national position over what she calls the ‘racist, hateful, fascist’ party of Donald Trump.”

Young Republicans of South Carolina leader Katrina Elaine Jorgensen: “If we have instead decided to uphold a man who does not represent us or our views — a man that has belittled war heroes, explicitly stated misogynist beliefs, relied on intimidation of minorities, insulted our international allies, rewarded violence, championed divisive rhetoric and proved completely uneducated in conservative fiscal policy — I cannot participate in that.”

Jennifer Rubin: “Whether it is incoherence on the topic of the day, his refusal to prove he’s as rich as he says or the real possibility of a debate meltdown, it is no wonder that House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. refuses to bet on him. It’s a sucker’s bet.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich: “The governor reiterated that he is in no rush to support presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump. And he indicated that an endorsement might never come. “Unless I see a fundamental change it’s really hard for me to do a merger,” said Kasich, choosing a business analogy that Trump, a wealthy real estate mogul, would understand.”

Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: “The Republican from Wisconsin says he wouldn’t risk a wager on Donald Trump winning the general election in November, despite the presumptive nominee’s insistence that he can unify the GOP and the country to bring his party a win. “I’m not a betting man,” Ryan told Politico‘s Off Message podcast.”

Glenn Beck: “I guess unlike some politicians, I say what I mean and mean what I say. So I’m not suddenly in love with Donald Trump, nor a supporter of Donald Trump.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-SC]: “Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday he still isn’t supporting Donald Trump … “If you want to give money to Mr. Trump that’s up to you. I’m urging you to give money to my House and Senate colleagues,” Graham told reporters Monday. “I have not changed my position about the presidential race.””

Spokesman for New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez: “The governor will not be bullied into supporting a candidate until she is convinced that candidate will fight for New Mexicans. Governor Martinez doesn’t care about what Donald Trump says about her — she cares about what he says he will do to help New Mexicans. She’s disappointed that she didn’t hear anything about that last night.”

Michael Gerson: The Trump train is fueled by conspiracy: “As a leader, Trump has succeeded by appealing to stereotypes and ugly hatreds that most American leaders have struggled to repress and contain. His political universe consists of deceptive experts, of scheming, of criminal Mexicans, of lying politicians and bureaucrats and of disloyal Muslims. Asked to repudiate David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, Trump hesitated, later claiming a “bad earpiece.” Asked to repudiate the vicious anti-Semitism of some of his followers, Trump responded, “I don’t have a message to the fans.” Wouldn’t want to offend “the fans.” This is not flirting with the fringes; it is French-kissing them. Every Republican official endorsing Trump should know: This is the company he keeps. This is the company you now keep.”

American Enterprise Institute’s Charles Murray: “In my view, Donald Trump is unfit to be president in ways that apply to no other candidate of the two major political parties throughout American history. … Just watch and listen to the man. Don’t concoct elaborate rationalizations. Just watch and listen. … What you see on your television screen every day from Donald Trump the candidate is the best that you can expect from Donald Trump the president.”

Calvin Turnquest, Former Congressional Candidate & Palm Beach GOP Caucus Chair [R-FL]: “.@realDonaldTrump is a #trojanhorse & I can’t support him 4 #POTUS. I resign my position with @PalmBeachGOP as a Caucus Chair. #NeverTrump”

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay [R-TX]: On the impact of Trump’s attacks on Republican New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez on GOP party unity: “It impacts every Republican, especially incumbents that are running for re-election in this year. They’re having to stand up and explain Donald Trump. This is – I have no other word for it, this is just stupid politics. … Where is he going to get his coalition to help him win?”

Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: “Asked by THE WEEKLY STANDARD about some of the problematic statements and actions Trump has made on the campaign trail—dismissing the service of American prisoners of war, mocking a physically disabled reporter, and denigrating women for their appearance—Ryan waved away the question. TWS: Which of these should Donald Trump apologize for, if any of them? RYAN: I’m not going to get into this now.”

Kathy Szeliga, Republican delegate from Maryland: “I have very deep concerns about what he’s said about women and how he’s treated women. And I’m, you know, gonna wait and see how he addresses those issues.”

Spokesman for New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez: “The governor will not be bullied into supporting a candidate until she is convinced that candidate will fight for New Mexicans. Governor Martinez doesn’t care about what Donald Trump says about her — she cares about what he says he will do to help New Mexicans. She’s disappointed that she didn’t hear anything about that last night.”

Michael Gerson: The Trump train is fueled by conspiracy: “As a leader, Trump has succeeded by appealing to stereotypes and ugly hatreds that most American leaders have struggled to repress and contain. His political universe consists of deceptive experts, of scheming, of criminal Mexicans, of lying politicians and bureaucrats and of disloyal Muslims. Asked to repudiate David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, Trump hesitated, later claiming a “bad earpiece.” Asked to repudiate the vicious anti-Semitism of some of his followers, Trump responded, “I don’t have a message to the fans.” Wouldn’t want to offend “the fans.” This is not flirting with the fringes; it is French-kissing them. Every Republican official endorsing Trump should know: This is the company he keeps. This is the company you now keep.”

American Enterprise Institute’s Charles Murray: “In my view, Donald Trump is unfit to be president in ways that apply to no other candidate of the two major political parties throughout American history. … Just watch and listen to the man. Don’t concoct elaborate rationalizations. Just watch and listen. … What you see on your television screen every day from Donald Trump the candidate is the best that you can expect from Donald Trump the president.”

Calvin Turnquest, Former Congressional Candidate & Palm Beach GOP Caucus Chair [R-FL]: “.@realDonaldTrump is a #trojanhorse & I can’t support him 4 #POTUS. I resign my position with @PalmBeachGOP as a Caucus Chair. #NeverTrump”

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay [R-TX]: On the impact of Trump’s attacks on Republican New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez on GOP party unity: “It impacts every Republican, especially incumbents that are running for re-election in this year. They’re having to stand up and explain Donald Trump. This is – I have no other word for it, this is just stupid politics. … Where is he going to get his coalition to help him win?”

Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: “Asked by THE WEEKLY STANDARD about some of the problematic statements and actions Trump has made on the campaign trail—dismissing the service of American prisoners of war, mocking a physically disabled reporter, and denigrating women for their appearance—Ryan waved away the question. TWS: Which of these should Donald Trump apologize for, if any of them? RYAN: I’m not going to get into this now.”

Kathy Szeliga, Republican delegate from Maryland: “I have very deep concerns about what he’s said about women and how he’s treated women. And I’m, you know, gonna wait and see how he addresses those issues.”

Rick Wilson, GOP Political Consultant: “What this story and other emerging information shows is the Trump is hiding a deliberate and structured system of tax avoidance that many observers would consider over the line between clever and dodgy.”

Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman: ““Donald Trump’s trade plan would hurt American businesses and workers, Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman told CNBC on Wednesday. ‘I think his policies around free trade will be damaging to businesses as a whole,’ said Whitman, a Republican who waged an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in California in 2010.”

Doug Heye, Former RNC communications director: How Donald Trump’s Attack on Susana Martinez Undermines the GOP–and Trump: “This attack hurts Mr. Trump’s efforts to unite the Republican Party and to expand his support outside a core share of Republican primary voters. Many Republicans–whether elected officials, party operatives, top fundraisers, past Trump opponents, or everyday voters–continue to resist Mr. Trump and see his recent efforts at unity as, at best, halfhearted.”

Albuquerque Journal: Republicans defend Gov. Martinez after Trump attack: “High-profile GOP figures, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and former presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and John Kasich, came to Martinez’s defense after Trump assailed the two-term Republican governor in his rally at the Albuquerque Convention Center and mused about launching a New Mexico gubernatorial run of his own.”

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker: Defending New Mexico Governor Susan Martinez from Trump’s attacks: “I think as Republicans, as a party at least, we’re very proud that we elected the first Latina governor as a party, the first female governor in New Mexico, and she’s done a phenomenal job,”

Speaker Paul Ryan [R–WI]: Following phone call with Trump: “We had a very productive discussion, I’ll leave it at that.”

BuzzFeed: Trump Super PAC Chair Criticizes Trump For Going After Susana Martinez: “Ed Rollins, a co-chairman of a super PAC backing Donald Trump, rebuked Trump for criticizing New Mexico’s Republican governor, Susana Martinez, at a Tuesday rally in Albuquerque. … “I’d try and be making friends, particularly among people that have a big play in a state like she has.””

Jennifer Rubin: “To measure a country by its wealth is equally noxious, a repudiation of values such as respect for human dignity and generosity. No wonder Trump admires Vladimir Putin; they share the same standards, worship the same idols of wealth and power.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger [R-IL]: “It’s not just because it’s offensive to them to hear that we should ban all Muslims … When Trump makes comments like ‘ban ‘em all’ it does real harm to our international affairs.”

Mitt Romney: “I wanted my grandkids to see that I simply couldn’t ignore what Mr. Trump was saying and doing, which revealed a character and temperament unfit for the leader of the free world.”

Josh Romney: “When the grandkids ask ‘What did you do to stop Donald Trump?’ what are you going to say?’”

Politico: RNC scrambles to calm state GOP officials: “With many of the party’s financiers cool on Trump, how much money the party will raise is an open question. Now the situation, state GOP officials say, is critical.”

US News & World Report: Trump Attacks Fellow Republicans: “GOP strategists and leaders expected more of a congenial tone and unifying spirit from Trump now that the real estate developer is on a clear path to the Republican presidential nomination. But his comments run the risk of further alienating some of the same GOP figures that he will presumably need to propel his campaign in the fall general-election campaign.”

Jennifer Rubin: Realistic about the damage Trump can do: “A narcissist with an authoritarian streak, one surrounded by shady characters with foreign connections and unable to separate Internet rumor from fact can do great damage to America’s economy, military and assorted institutions. He’s already done untold damage to the political debate, rendering it even more vulgar and nasty than it was before he threw his hat into the ring. It’s why it is critical to keep him out of the White House.”

Michael Gerson former assistant to President George W. Bush for policy and strategic planning: “The GOP has selected someone who is unfit to be president, lacking the temperament, stability, judgment and compassion to occupy the office. This is a terrible error, which has probably cost conservatives a majority on the Supreme Court.”

Kurt Bardella, former spokesperson for Rep. Darrell Issa: “What do women, minorities, young adults and college students have in common? Among other things, they are all constituencies alienated by the Republican Party and its ascendant candidate for the presidency, Donald Trump.”

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges: “Look, I wasn’t for [Trump] … We fought hard for the governor. We didn’t win. And we’re still sort of in the – I’m rapidly moving through the stages of grief.”

Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado: Regalado “views Mr. Trump as a poisonous candidate who has aggravated racial divisions. In Miami, Mr. Regalado said, Mr. Trump is seen as “a bully, as a person who despises people that don’t look like him. Mr. Regalado, 69, said he had been inundated with angry email, some of it mentioning Mr. Trump by name. “Sometimes they say, ‘Yeah, Trump is right, you guys have to all go back to your country,’” said Mr. Regalado, who was born in Havana and emigrated as a teenager. “This is my country. I can’t go back to Cuba.””

New York Times Opinion: Pay No Attention to the Man Atop the Ticket: ““Yeah, it’s going to be awful,” one senior staffer on a Republican congressional campaign told me. “Every time he says something crazy, they’re asking for us to respond to it.””

Bret Stephens, deputy editorial page editor for the Wall Street Journal: “It’s important that Donald Trump and what he represents – this kind of ethnic, quote, ‘conservatism,’ or populism, be so decisively rebuked that the Republican Party, the Republican voters, will forever learn their lesson that they cannot nominate a man so manifestly unqualified to be president in any way, shape or form.”

Former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman: “Don’t be steamrolled into thinking you have to be for Donald Trump because he’s now locked up the nomination…Let the party know that this has gotten out of control and we are not the kind of people that Donald Trump portrays us as being. And this is not the way we want to go forward.”

Palm Beach Post: Republican quits local party post over Donald Trump: “The chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party’s black caucus resigned last week, saying he can’t hold the official party post because he can’t support Donald Trump for president.”

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: “Mr. Trump needs to convince millions of skeptical voters that he’s more than an impulsive bully who poses too big a risk in the Oval Office.”

Boston Globe: Latino Republicans Spurn Donald Trump: “Trump’s rhetoric is hurtful to a swath of voters, Hispanic conservatives said in interviews. They are offended by his comments claiming Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals, by his pledge to build a Mexican border wall, and by his promise of mass deportations.”

Phillips Zelikow, former State Department under President George W. Bush: “I would support a random name in the phone book [over Trump].”

Retired Amy Col. Peter Mansoor: “Retired Army Col. Peter Mansoor plans to vote for Hillary Clinton for president this year, but not because the longtime Republican and former top aide to then-Gen. David Petraeus has had a political conversion. He just thinks Republican Donald Trump is too dangerous to be president.”

New York Times: ‘I can watch it on TV’: Excuses for Republicans Skipping on a Donald Trump Convention: “A wave of prominent Republicans have announced their intention to skip the party’s national convention in Cleveland this summer, the latest sign that Donald J. Trump, who last week secured the delegates needed to clinch the Republican presidential nomination, continues to struggle in his effort to unite the party behind his candidacy.”

Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: “One condition of the Speaker getting on the phone for [People] magazine’s special Fathers’ Day gallery was that he not be asked about his party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump, whom Ryan has famously declined so far to endorse.”

RGA Finance Chair Fred Malek: “Trump left a post-primary trail of broken bones and shattered glass that does not heal quickly or easily. … Look at it from a personal perspective — if someone repeatedly hit one of your sons, often below the belt, wouldn’t you need some courting and cajoling to consider making up? It’s Trump’s job as the GOP’s leader to unify, to bring people together, not divide them.”

San Diego Union Tribune Editorial: California GOP voters, send Donald Trump this message: “We can’t endorse Trump for reasons we’ve documented repeatedly: belligerence, casual cruelty, incoherence on policy issues. … So what do Republicans who don’t accept Trump’s style or substance — including all three Bushes, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, George Will and Charles Krauthammer — do? … If you are voting in the GOP primary Tuesday, write in Ronald Reagan for president.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: “Asked on 1099AM’s WBAL News Now with Bryan Nehman if he was worried by Trump’s temperament, McConnell said, “It does, I don’t like that.” “I think that ought to stop,” he said. “I don’t think it adds any value whatsoever to the discourse. It is something about him that I don’t care for.””

Politico: Trump can’t seal the deal with swing-state Republican establishment: “A host of key establishment figures in Ohio and Florida — including current Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Gov. Bob Taft, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Carlos Curbelo and other influential Latino leaders in Florida — are still refusing to get behind the GOP nominee.”

NY Times: Hispanic Official to Leave R.N.C. in Sign of Disaffection with Donald Trump: “The head of Hispanic media relations at the Republican National Committee is resigning this month in what appears to be another indication of the lingering discomfort some party officials have about working to elect Donald J. Trump president.”

BuzzFeed: The RNC’s New Hispanic Media Director Bashed Trump Nonstop For Months: “Before the announcement, Aguirre Ferré deleted tweets critical of Trump — both from when she worked for Jeb Bush’s campaign and long after, when it was clear Trump would be the Republican nominee. She was also very critical of Trump in a multitude of Spanish-language interviews, from Al Punto — a Sunday political show in the mold of Meet The Press, with influential Univision anchor Jorge Ramos — to local stations in Florida. Aguirre Ferré has said she is #NeverTrump, often retweeting people who say they are Never Trump and called him “crazy” on Twitter.”

Former Ohio Governor & Senator George Voinovich: ““He has, over the campaign, talked about lots of things, and what he’s talked about in his solutions to these things have raised a lot of eyebrows,” said Voinovich, counting himself as one of what he described as many Ohioans who have serious concerns about Trump’s plans for everything from the debt to international alliances. “I mean, the point is, people are dismayed at some of the stuff.””

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder: “Gov. Rick Snyder has sidelined himself in the race for president, choosing not to make an endorsement of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump…“I’ve stayed out of the whole thing, and I’m going to continue to,” Snyder said Wednesday in an interview with The Detroit News Editorial Board at the Mackinac Policy Conference.”

Daniel Henninger, WSJ Columnist and FOX News Contributor: “It isn’t just Mr. Trump’s compulsive urge to attack Republicans Jeb Bush, Nikki Haley, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the rest of them. It’s what comes after. … When Donald Trump attacks one of these individuals so publicly, the aftershocks radiate outward across connected webs of loyalists and fundraisers. Susana Martinez is chairwoman of the Republican Governors Association. Its members include GOP governors in at least seven important battleground states. Mr. Trump needs their states’ political machinery. Holding a Susana Martinez up to public ridicule is fun for him but increasingly dangerous. In politics, payback can come from innumerable places, and in ways you will never see.”

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Republicans in Congress fall in line behind Trump, some grudgingly: “But that doesn’t mean they suddenly love the mouthy real estate magnate or agree with his often controversial pronouncements. While all spoke heatedly of the need to defeat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, their degree of enthusiasm for Trump ranged from chilly to lukewarm.”

Michael Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan: “I will tell you this: I’m not voting for him tomorrow in the California primary. I’m gonna find another place to put my vote. I may even write in Ronald Reagan because I’m offended by what he said…My father would not vote for Donald Trump in tomorrow’s primary in California.”

Roll Call: Rubio Says He Won’t Speak on Trump’s Behalf at GOP Convention: “Sen. Marco Rubio wants to make clear that if he speaks at the Republican National Convention this July, he will not be on stage as a Donald Trump surrogate. “I may not be asked to speak, but if I am at a convention or any Republican gathering for that matter, what I would communicate is the things I believe in,” Rubio said Monday.”

Ken Cobb, Beltrami County, Minnesota Republican Party Chair: “Calling presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump’s influence a “cancer on the party,” longtime Beltrami County Republican Chair Ken Cobb resigned Sunday. … Cobb’s opposition to Trump’s candidacy led him to making a proposal at the Beltrami County Republican Party’s monthly meeting in May to keep the county organization out of the presidential election.”

The Hill: Scarborough calls on GOP to ‘back away’ from Trump: “Republicans – call him out, back away from those endorsements, make him back down on the Muslim ban, make him back down on this racist comment that he’s made about a man born in Indiana, saying he’s incapable of being a fair judge because of where his parents were born.”

Former Rep. John LeBoutillier [R-NY]: Trump’s behavior threatens his nomination: “The current Republican Party is a total mess. They have a nominee in Trump who has legitimately earned the 1,237-plus delegates to be the presidential nominee. But most of the other nominees for the Senate, House and other offices are scared to death every time Trump opens his mouth.They have no idea what he is going to say — or how they are going to have to react to it.”

Associated Press: Trump campaign wasting precious time, GOP critics say: “By now, Republican Party critics argue, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee was supposed to have stationed senior staff in battleground states, moderated his fiery message to attract new supporters and begun raking in big money. Instead, he’s spending more time right now picking fights and settling scores than delivering a message that might help draw voters.”

Politico: Walker backs away from endorsing Trump: “Faced with mounting controversies surrounding his party’s nominee for president, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is backing away from his pledge to support Donald Trump. … The Wisconsin governor seemed less certain of his ability to back Trump, pointing to the candidate’s accusations of bias against a Hispanic federal judge as especially troubling.”

Joe Scarborough: “Donald, guess what? I’m not going to support you until you get your act together. You’re acting like bush-league loser, you’re acting like a racist, you’re acting like a bigot.”

Hugh Hewitt, conservative radio talk show host: “I want to support the nominee of the party, but I think the party ought to change the nominee, because we’re going to get killed with this nominee…It’s like ignoring stage-four cancer. You can’t do it, you gotta go attack it. And right now the Republican Party is facing — the plane is headed towards the mountain after the last 72 hours.”

Ken Langone, Co-founder of Home Depot and Trump supporter: “Billionaire Republican businessman Ken Langone blasted Donald Trump on Wednesday for calling a Mexican-American judge biased … Langone, co-founder of Home Depot, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that Trump’s statements were “disgraceful,” and the real estate mogul should make a public apology.”

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich: As Tweeted by STAT news reporter Rebecca Robbins: “.@newtgingrich: Trump “made a really stupid mistake last week, and it took him about 3 days to learn.” Calls Trump an ‘absurd amateur.’”

Florida State Sen. Rene Garcia: Regarding Trump’s attacks on Judge Curiel: “These demeaning words seek to divide the country among racial lines, and that is simply contrary to the American values that have made our country great. It is shameful that Mr. Trump is using his public profile to force pressure on a reputable member of the federal judiciary to affect the outcome of a private civil matter. Republican or Democrat, black or white, we must stand in solidarity and denounce these blatantly racist remarks.”

Sen. Susan Collins [R-ME]: “He really has to change the approach that he’s taken…He is the one who needs to start acting more presidential and articulate more clearly what a Trump presidency would look like. So frankly, I really think the burden is on him to put forward a far more positive message.”

Rep. Peter King [R-NY]: On Trump’s attacks on Judge Curiel: “The fact is he has to realize that was a terrible mistake. First of all, it was wrong. It was racist remark to talk about a judge’s ethnic background and also though it was wrong politically because there’s no reason why he should be talking about a private litigation, he’s running for president of the United States.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell [R-KY]: “He needs to quit these gratuitous attacks on other Americans, not only those who competed with him for the nomination, but various Americans based on their ethnicity, which is completely unacceptable in America in 2016.”

Gov. John Kasich [R-OH]: “This latest thing about this judge, it’s just terrible. It’s just terrible….If you’re going to insult Hispanics, if you’re going to turn off minorities, if you’re going to have reckless suggestions on foreign policy, that’s not good….Look at what happened with this judge. Here’s a guy born in Indiana, and [Trump] says that he’s biased. Or that if he’s Muslim he’s biased. That’s not good stuff.”

Christine Whitman, EPA Administrator under President George W. Bush: Trump “says he’s going to roll back a lot of things, but he can’t do it. He’s not an emperor, but he doesn’t seem to get it….He doesn’t seem to understand the Constitution or really care much about it.”

Joe Scarborough: ““He is insecure,” Scarborough said during an episode of Politico’s “Off Message” podcast. “That’s always driven him — I’ll say it — batshit crazy.””

Ohio State Sen. Shannon Jones: “Warren County’s Shannon Jones, a state senator who has vocally opposed the candidacy of presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, has resigned her spot as a delegate to the Republican convention in Cleveland next month. “I’m not going to participate in this process. I’m just not going to participate in it,”said Jones.”

Former Ohio State Rep. Ross McGregor: On not attending Republican National Convention: “If anything, I regret that I will not be able to be at the convention to vote against Donald Trump..I served with a lot of very conservative Republicans. And while we all may not have agreed on every issue, we at least, by and large, maintained a sense of decorum and respect for the institution in which we served, and I see none of that in Donald Trump.”

Rep. Bill Flores, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee [R-TX]: “I was incredibly angry to see Mr. Trump question a judge’s motives because of his ethnicity… Trump needs to show how he will address the critical issues on the minds of Americans: national security and economic opportunity for hardworking American families.”

Sen. Rob Portman [R-OH]: Regarding Trump’s attacks on Judge Curiel: “Look I think what he said was offensive, I think it’s wrong I strongly disagree with it, as I said earlier I think it’s broader than just about this one judge I think it’s this idea that someone can’t do his or her job because of their heritage I think again this guy’s as American as I am and as Donald Trump is.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: “Walker signaled Tuesday that supporting Donald Trump for president was contingent on the presumptive GOP presidential nominee renouncing his comments about the federal judge handling a lawsuit against the Trump University real-estate program. “In particular, I want to make sure he renounces what he says at least in regards to this judge.””

Former Sen. Tom Coburn [R-OK]: “The question is, does he have the self-discipline and some control over his ego to be able to say ‘I’m wrong’ every now and then? I haven’t seen that…if you continue to alienate groups of people and stand behind it and not be conciliatory at all…I’ve never heard him say anything like that.”

Former Iowa Republican Party chairman A.J. Spiker: ““There’s a long history in the Republican Party of delegates voting their conscience,” Spiker said. “There is a path for the party to go in a different direction than Trump. The delegates are the ultimate authority of the Republican Party.” Spiker tweeted on Tuesday that “the Republican Party needs a patriot to step forward, challenge Trump, work delegates and win the GOP nomination for president in Cleveland.””

NBC4 New York: Hackensack Mayor, Deputy Mayor Break With GOP in Protest of Trump as Presumptive Presidential Nominee: “The mayor and deputy mayor of a New Jersey city have ditched their Republican party affiliation, fed up with what they call racist comments by Donald Trump, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. “It’s crossing the line now. We’re getting to the point where you can’t be doing that,” said Hackensack Mayor John Labrosse.”

John Hood, conservative commentator and President of the Pope Foundation in North Carolina: “I think Trump is a horrible candidate for the fall election, he’s completely unqualified to be commander-in-chief, and he is a contemptible human being…Trump is a fundamentally different sort of candidate than the others have been, and not in a good way.”

Spencer Zwick, former fundraiser for Mitt Romney: “Well, donors do ask that question. They wonder, how can they support a party whose nominee is going to say racist things? They hope that he doesn’t continue to say those things, but for many of the donors, Chris, they, that will be it for them. I think there are donors certainly here and that I’ve talked to around the country who have decided that those comments as well as others have - are going to prevent them from supporting Donald Trump.”

Washington Post Columnist Michael Gerson: “Is Trump himself a racist? Who the bloody hell cares? There is no difference in public influence between a politician who is a racist and one who appeals to racist sentiments with racist arguments. The harm to the country — measured in division and fear — is the same, whatever the inner workings of Trump’s heart.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: Regarding Trump’s attacks on Judge Curiel: “I have [spoken to Trump] and explained exactly what I thought about that comment. I said it publicly and I said it privately…This is something that needs to be condemned. That comment is beyond the pale. That’s not political correctness – suggesting someone can’t do their job because of their race or ethnicity, that’s not a politically incorrect thing to do. That’s just a wrong thing to say, and I hope he gets that.”

Bob Vander Plaats, head of The Family Leader in Iowa: “Bob Vander Plaats…said that Trump’s biggest problem with evangelical voters is trust. “Can we trust him to lead on pro-family issues? Can we trust him to surround himself around the right people who are principled conservatives?” Vander Plaats rhetorically asked.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell [R-KY]: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that Donald Trump needs to pick an experienced running mate because “he doesn’t know a lot about the issues” and strongly urged him to change course on his rhetoric.”

The Hill: Trump takes his own advice, frustrating GOP: “Nervous Republicans are now wondering: Will Trump start to take more advice from Priebus and other GOP officials? Or will he keep his own counsel, for the most part? …Gingrich said it’d be crazy to expect that Trump will fundamentally change.”

CNN: Anti-Trump Republicans seek last-ditch ‘delegate revolt: “The faction of the GOP that is unhappy with Donald Trump as the party’s presumptive nominee has one last plan to stop the mogul: staging an all-out delegate revolt at the Republican National Convention. The far-fetched idea is the latest reflection of a campaign cycle that has been anything but ordinary, and stems from a continuing dissatisfaction among some conservative stalwarts with how Trump is behaving and running his campaign.”

WSJ Editorial Board: Trump Can’t Wing It Forever: “[Trump’s] winging it. He continues to operate on the assumption that he will bask in free airtime forever, that the masses will flock to him come November, that he can tweet his way to the Oval Office. And perhaps, given his primary achievement, he gets the benefit of the doubt. Save one thing: It isn’t working.”

Meghan McCain, conservative radio show host and Fox News contributor: “@realDonaldTrump You’re congratulating yourself because 50 people are dead this morning in a horrific tragedy?”

Jennifer Rubin: “Donald Trump’s issue going into Monday was that voters perceive him as an opportunistic hate-monger and ignoramus on national security. He doubled down, insisting he’d enact a Muslim ban by executive edict until screening was “perfect.” He seemed to hint at his own cluelessness,saying he’d find people who knew what to do.”

CNN: Paul Ryan stands by his opposition to Trump’s proposed Muslim ban: ““I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country’s interest. It’s not reflective of our principles not just as a party but as a country,” Ryan told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, criticizing the presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s proposal… pressed as he was walking away from the microphones if he stood by his support of Trump as the GOP presumptive nominee, Ryan ignored the question.”

Sen. Bob Corker [R-TN]: “GOP Sen. Bob Corker, asked for the umpteenth time about Trump, was so dejected he almost looked like he was about to begin weeping”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski [R-AK]: “I do not agree with Donald Trump’s call for a blanket ban on Muslims entering the United States - it is not what this country stands for.”

Senator Bob Corker [R-TN]: ““It wasn’t the type of speech one would expect” from potential president. Says he’s “discouraged” by the campaign.”

Washington Post: Republicans stand divided as Trump rewrites post-terror playbook: “Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are standing apart from their presumptive presidential nominee yet again — but this time in the aftermath of a major terror attack on the American homeland, an event that historically has brought parties together, not driven them apart.”

TPM: After Worst Shooting In US History, GOP Struggles To Answer For Its Nominee: “In his first real test as the Republican standard bearer, Donald Trump responded to America’s deadliest mass shooting in history Monday by re-upping his ban on Muslims and insinuating that President Barack Obama was somehow in cahoots with Islamic terrorists. Trump’s incendiary and divisive message increased pressure on Republican leaders on Capitol Hill who were in an already untenable position: answering for a nominee who they did not agree with on tone or even in substance.”

Reuters: Trump’s post-Orlando message falls flat with Republican establishment: Trump’s “reaction to the massacre showed few initial signs of winning over Republican foreign-policy figures who have spurned the New York mogul. “It’s a missed opportunity to present a different image,” said Peter Feaver, a top National Security Council aide in the George W. Bush White House. “He has doubled down on policies I oppose and that aren’t going to solve the problem.””

Politico: Trump’s terror response has Republicans fretting anew: “Trump’s response to the deadliest mass shooting in American history prompted renewed doubts about whether he carries “the kind of sensitivity or understanding of … a president’s role,” as Tom Rath, a veteran New Hampshire Republican strategist, put it.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-SC]: “Mr. Trump seems to be suggesting that the president is one of them. I find it highly offensive. I find that whole line of reasoning way off base.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-SC]: “Lindsey Graham today “I’ve run out of adjectives when it comes to Mr. Trump.””

Sen. Tim Scott [R-SC]: “Ask Sen Tim Scott (R-SC) how he feels about Donald Trump’s Islam speech. He stops, pauses. “You know…mmm.” Then walks onto Senate floor.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander [R-TN]: ““We don’t have a nominee” Sen Alexander says in response to question on Trump. Informed he’s the presumptive nominee: “That’s what you say.””

Dan Senor, former political advisor to Mitt Romney: “A religious test for entering the country, it’s unconstitutional, abhorrent, everything about it is reprehensible as a political matter, this is the point at which donald trump should be unifying the party…You have crazy inflammatory, divisive things he’s saying that is giving republican leaders pause about unifying. bad polls and inflammatory rhetoric is a bad way to unify your party on the eve of a convention.”

Fox News contributor Julie Roginsky: “This is not the Soviet Union…I know [Donald Trump] admires Vladimir Putin, who banned a tremendous amount of media in Russia. That Donald Trump would want to have that happen here — we’re not Russia — this can’t happen in this country, where you have somebody banning an outlet they don’t like.”

Houston Chronicle: Cruz backers among GOP activists looking for Trump alternative: “Some of the leading figures in what some have dubbed a “coup” or a “delegate revolt” are former Cruz campaign officials who see Trump as an impending disaster for the party. They are encouraging delegates to the national convention in Cleveland in July - no matter who they are pledged to - to press the presumptive nominee on his conservative credentials or reject him.”

Steve Lonegan, Former NJ State Director for Ted Cruz: ““Unbinding the delegates is a revolt,” said Steve Lonegan, Cruz’s former New Jersey state director, now one of the leaders in the national movement to challenge Trump’s nomination. “Call it whatever you want. It’s a revolt. It’s an uprising.””

Marc Andreessen, former Romney donor: Regarding Trump’s anti-immigration policies: “Andreessen said the idea of cutting off the flow on immigrants “makes me sick.” “The Valley wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be doing any of this if we didn’t have the amazing flow of immigrants that we’ve had in the last 80 years,” he said.”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger [R-IL]: ““You don’t do it by alienating the very people we need and those are moderate Muslims,” said Kinzinger. “To use religion as a test, to say we’re going to discriminate against all Muslims, is so counterproductive it really almost doesn’t deserve being talked about.””

Bruce Carroll, creator of the conservative blog, “Gay Patriot”: “I won’t vote for Trump even if he winds up being the only name on the ballot…I am not going to be an enabler of a racist, anti-Constitutional, authoritarian Trump regime.”

Robert Kabel, Washington D.C. RNC delegate: “I’m with a lot of Republicans who are very troubled by his attack on the judge and the racist nature of that. It’s very troubling…I’m really hoping that he takes advice from people who know how to run presidential campaigns and get on message and stop all this name calling and fighting Republicans.”

Gregory T. Angelo, President of the Log Cabin Republicans: “There are reservations some members of our national board of directors have…I would want assurances that Mr. Trump wouldn’t work to roll back advances we’ve made in LGBT equality, specifically on the marriage equality issue.”

Haaretz: Divided on Trump, Jewish Republicans Slam His Proposed Muslim Ban: “The Republican Jewish Coalition, which congratulated Trump in May for winning the primary but seemed to stop short of endorsing him, released a statement Tuesday admonishing the ban. “The fear that many feel today cannot be superseded by a rush to demonize and marginalize other Americans of a different faith,” the statement read. “As a Jewish organization we are very sensitive to the rhetoric used against law-abiding Muslims in the United States in the wake of terrorist attacks by Muslim radicals.””

Rick Wilson, GOP Consultant: “There is no better Trump. There is not Presidential Trump. He is a vile stain on the this Republic.”

Michael Strain, Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute: “My own hope is that Trump loses all 50 states. He is morally unfit to be our head of state. Period. Full stop. In addition to being antithetical to conservative values, Trump’s comfort with racism and religious bigotry and misogyny are sufficient reasons to oppose his election as president. You don’t need anything else.”

Minnesota Republican activist Dave Thul: ““Trump doesn’t have a filter and doesn’t think about what he says before he says it,” said the former Steele County GOP chair, who resigned earlier this year over his objection to Trump’s candidacy. “I don’t think he has the self awareness that this tragedy is a time when the country is looking for a leader.””

Politico: Former Deputy Secretary of State to George W. Bush Richard Armitage to back Clinton over Trump: “If Donald Trump is the nominee, I would vote for Hillary Clinton…He doesn’t appear to be to be a Republican, he doesn’t appear to want to learn about issues. So I’m going to vote for Mrs. Clinton.”

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam: “It’s no secret that there have been things that I haven’t agreed with. It’s also no secret that he’s not who my first pick was…Do I disagree that we need to ban all Muslims from entering the country? Yes, I disagree with that strongly.”

Ohio Governor John Kasich: “You imply that maybe somehow the president is sympathetic to an act of terrorism…I mean, those are outrageous things. It’s trending all the wrong way.”

Politico: Trump’s relationship with RNC sours: “Donald Trump is relying heavily on the Republican Party to bolster his skeletal operation, but his campaign’s relationship with the Republican National Committee is increasingly plagued by distrust, power struggles and strategic differences, according to sources in both camps.”

New York Times: The 5 Types of Trump-Averse Republicans: “His unrelenting stream of incendiary remarks have left horrified congressional Republicans divided into five loose categories about the problem that is Donald J. Trump.”

Karl Rove: “Mr. Trump’s decisions—to forgo ads, abandon his self-funding pledge and accept a big financial deficit, and turn the ground game over to the RNC—are unprecedented challenges to conventional wisdom. In 21 weeks, we will know if they were smart bets. Call me old-fashioned, but I’m wagering that the first two are not.”

Matthew Continetti, Free Beacon editor in chief: “This week [Trump] cast the troops in Iraq as thieves, threw his support behind an unconstitutional proposal to deny Second Amendment rights to citizens on the no fly list, invited Kim Jong Un to Washington, hinted that President Obama supported ISIS, denied press credentials to the Washington Post after the paper reported this insinuation, and then turned around and tweeted that a Breitbart.com article proved he was right about Obama all along. This is not a good man. This is not a stable man.”

Susan Goldwater Levine, widow of senator and GOP presidential nominee Barry Goldwater: ““Ugh or yuck is my response,” Susan Goldwater Levine said Thursday night when called by a reporter. “I think Barry would be appalled that his home was being used for that purpose. Barry would be appalled by Mr. Trump’s behavior — the unintelligent and unfiltered and crude communications style. And he’s shallow — so, so shallow.””

Charles Krauthammer, conservative columnist for the Washington Post: “It’s no accident that Trump’s poll numbers are sliding…it is a clear reflection of Trump’s disastrous general election kickoff. His two-week expedition into racism in attacking the Indiana-born “Mexican” judge. His dabbling in conspiracy…All of which suggests, and cements, the image of a man who shoots from the hip and is prone to both wild theories and extreme policies.”

WOI: Ernst Disagrees With Trump On Muslim Ban: “Iowa’s freshman Republican senator does not agree with the party’s presumptive presidential nominee’s stance on regulating Muslims coming in to the country. … “To outright say we’re going to ban all Muslims, I don’t support that.””

Joe Scarborough: “Trump is a unique nominee. He and other leaders though now must ask themselves if they are willing to trade in their Republican ideals and warp their legacy and what they have worked for their entire life, simply to match the moment. What side of history will today’s Republican leaders stand on during these defining days? Will they stand on the shoulders of Lincoln or in the dark shadows of fear and division? The time to make that choice is running out.”

CNN: How the GOP could cut ties with Trump: ““A candidate who cannot win the support of a majority of Republican delegates voting their consciences does not deserve to be the nominee and certainly has no legal right to be,” [conservatives Eric O’Keefe and David Rifkin, Jr.] argued.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: “On the topic of Trump’s proposed Muslim ban and his statements that he could enact such a policy without Congress, Ryan noted that Republicans were releasing part of their agenda on executive overreach that very day, and, in news that’s sure to please Trump, Ryan suggested that he and the House of Representatives were prepared to sue a Republican president if need be. “I would sue any president that exceeds his or her powers.””

Washington Post: Dozens of GOP delegates launch new push to halt Donald Trump: “The delegates are angered by Trump’s recent comments on gun control, his racial attacks on a federal judge and his sinking poll numbers. They are convinced that Trump is an insufficiently conservative candidate and believe they will find enough like-minded Republicans within the next month to change party rules and allow delegates to vote for whomever they want, regardless of who won their state caucus or primary.”

New York Times: Some Trump Backers Show Signs of Loosening Their Embrace: “Republicans, many of whom have tried to lightly embrace Mr. Trump with one arm, while using the other to shove him away after a string of controversial and racially incendiary remarks… But in a substantial change, Mr. Trump’s most vocal supporters seem to have drawn a line they are no longer willing to cross.”

Rep. Fred Upton [R-MI]: “Upton, who has the most seniority among the state’s nine GOP delegation members, suggested the campaign of the New York businessman has gone “off the track.” “I’m going to stay in my lane,” Upton, R-St. Joseph, told Holland radio station WHTC-AM on Tuesday.”

Washington Post: GOP leaders alarmed by Trump’s ‘devastating’ fundraising start: “As top Republicans expressed astonishment and alarm over Donald Trump’s paltry campaign fundraising totals, the presumptive nominee blamed party leaders Tuesday and threatened to rely on his personal fortune instead of helping the GOP seek the cash it needs.”

Senator Jeff

Flake [R-AZ]: ““It weakens the whole party,” said Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has said he won’t be voting for Trump. Flake said it wasn’t just Trump’s fundraising he was concerned about. “This whole campaign is not good down-ballot. It’s not good. None of this is good.””

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay [R-TX]: ““I don’t know, my vote is very important to me. It’s very important to me. And right now, I would have a very hard time maybe voting in that race. I don’t know. I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I’ll just wait and see.” Asked about dumping Donald Trump at the Republican convention, DeLay said he would have to wait and see who the candidates to replace Trump would be.”

Ed Rogers, conservative contributor to the Washington Post: “The real problem with Trump isn’t just that he doesn’t have many fundamental campaign mechanisms in place; it’s what Trump believes and the offensive things he says that do nothing to help expand his appeal.”

Wall Street Journal Editorial: The Trump Disorganization: “The hard reality is that the problems with the Trump campaign aren’t Mr. Lewandowski’s fault. They are Donald J. Trump’s. If he wants to avoid a historic loss like 1984 or 1972 that costs the GOP its House and Senate majorities, he’ll take more instruction from political professionals.”

Austin Barbour, GOP strategist and fundraiser: “Barbour said Trump’s dismal fundraising efforts “could have a devastating impact” on the Republican party…“If he’s not raising hundreds of millions of dollars, there are gubernatorial races, senate races, congressional races, attorney general races, you name it, that will be impacted. Those races are dependent upon get-out-the-vote efforts from the RNC and the presidential campaign.”

Joe Scarborough: “I’ve never ridden a bull before but I’m thinking that would be easier than managing Trump long enough to win GOP.”

Chrissy Thompson, USA Today: Only demonstrator outside @HillaryClinton event when I arrived: Woman holding a sign: “Republican against @realDonaldTrump.”

LA Times: Brent Scowcroft, top foreign policy adviser to four GOP presidents, endorses Clinton: “Brent Scowcroft, the national security advisor to President George H.W. Bush and one of the leading figures of the Republican national security establishment, endorsed Hillary Clinton for president Wednesday….”The presidency requires the judgment and knowledge to make tough calls under pressure”…Clinton “has the wisdom and experience to lead our country at this critical time.””

Politico: Trump’s stumbles fuel convention delegate revolt: “Republican activists clamoring to block Donald Trump from the GOP nomination say they’re suddenly in the midst of a Dump-Trump bump. News of the mogul’s dismal fundraising and skeletal campaign staff has energized the ragtag band of delegates looking to unseat Trump as the party’s nominee at next month’s national convention. A handful of Republican Party insiders, long dismissive of attempts to block Trump, are now more convinced that there will be a substantive effort to stop him.”

Kendall Unruh, Colorado GOP Delegate: “If Trump is the nominee, we truly believe it’s the end of our party…We’re trying to save the party.”

Politico: Paul Ryan has no plans to raise money for Trump: “It’s significant, because Ryan has emerged as one of the most prolific fundraisers in the Republican Party. Ryan’s political operation — dubbed Team Ryan — raised $17 million in the first quarter of 2016…Trump, by comparison, has less than $1.3 million on hand, according to a campaign filing made public Monday night.”

David French, Staff Writer for the National Review: “Some Evangelicals appear willing to use their God-given talents and abilities to actually help elect him — because of the Supreme Court. What are they thinking? Hasn’t Trump clearly demonstrated his own contempt for the judiciary? As he made plain when he launched his attack on Judge Gonzalo Curiel, he believes that the judiciary exists to serve him, not to serve the law. He’ll make his judicial picks based on one and only one criterion: what’s best for him”

Jason Riley, WSJ Columnist: “The problem is Donald Trump… but Mr. Trump’s attempts to stretch the definition [of political correctness] aren’t working.”

Lionel Sosa, former political adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush: “If my party winds up electing Donald Trump, I’ll have to bid farewell, hoping that one day soon, it comes to its senses. Here’s my thinking. This madness could be temporary because our nominee is…just a shark, a self-promoter out to see how far his out-of-control ego can take him. Here’s my quandary. If my party’s left me, where do I go… I may just go for the devil we know instead of the lunatic we don’t know.”

Former Rep. John LeBoutillier [R-NY]: “It is the candidate’s behavior that needs to change — or else Donald Trump faces a catastrophic result in November. All the 20/20 hindsight analysis of the firing of Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, misses the only salient point. The entire problem of the Trump campaign is Trump himself. Period. His refusal to listen to anyone. His egotism. His total lack of humility. His refusal to admit anyone else on the planet knows anything.”

Former Virginia Lieutenant Gov. Candidate Michael Farris: “Today, a candidate whose worldview is greed and whose god is his appetites (Philippians 3) is being tacitly endorsed by this throng. They are saying we are Republicans no matter what the candidate believes and no matter how vile and unrepentant his character.”

Nicole Wallace, White House Communications Director under President George W. Bush: “This morning he gets off the helicopter, the morning after a historic vote, and he has talked more about the incredible suites in the light tower. Two of the most beautiful suites, it’s like watching an ad for, you know, the Marriott chain. And I am just, I’m gobsmacked that he did not open with comments that suggest that he knows – maybe he’s jet-lagged. But I’m gobsmacked that he did not open with some comment about world events. I need a minute.”

Sen. Jeff Flake [R-AZ]: “No Republican, or no candidate of either party, is going to win the number of votes that is needed saying the things that he has said and acting the way that he has acted.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell [R-KY]: “He’s earned the nomination, but in order to be elected president, he needs to pivot and start acting, like, presidential.”

Alex Conant, former Rubio communications director: When asked if he thinks more Republicans will be crossing the aisle and backing Hillary Clinton: “There may very well be. Look, Trump’s campaign is headed in a bad direction. On the current trajectory, he’s going to lose by an embarrassing margin this fall, and Hillary Clinton will be president.”

National Review: Tom DeLay Hammers ‘Authoritarian’ Donald Trump: “Now, not only are you supporting somebody who’s not pure enough, you’re supporting somebody who is totally contrary to what you believe in, to your principles. An authoritarian who doesn’t understand the Constitution or the issues.”  

Michael Gerson, conservative commentator: “Trump’s whole campaign now consists of a pathetic irony. He ran attacking the Republican “establishment” at every turn. Now, since he has neglected to construct his own national campaign, he is completely dependent on the “establishment” to provide his political ground game. First he vilifies the GOP, then complains that it lacks enthusiasm for his cause.”

WSJ: Stop-Trump Groups Air Ads Aiming to Unbind Delegates: “The first ads from groups aiming to unbind Republican National Convention delegates are set to air beginning Thursday, marking a new offensive in the effort to strip the GOP nomination away from presumptive nominee Donald Trump.”

Jim Cicconi, former White House staffer under Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush: “Mr. Cicconi, who worked in the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said he has backed every GOP presidential candidate since 1976. ‘But this year I think it’s vital to put our country’s well being ahead of party,’ he said in a statement provided by the campaign. ‘Hillary Clinton is experienced, qualified, and will make a fine president. The alternative, I fear, would set our nation on a very dark path.’”

Conservative political commentator George Will: “Trump’s campaign has less cash ($1.3 million) than some congressional candidates have, so Republican donors have never been more important than they are at this moment. They can save their party by not aiding its nominee.”

Conservative Columnist George Will: “George Will, the conservative commentator and columnist, said Sunday that he changed his voter registration to “unaffiliated” 23 days ago and has left the Republican Party because of Donald Trump. “After Trump went after the ‘Mexican’ judge from northern Indiana then (House Speaker) Paul Ryan endorsed him, I decided that in fact this was not my party anymore.””

Politico: Hardly anybody wants to speak at Trump’s convention: “The widespread lack of interest, Republicans say, boils down to one thing: the growing consensus that it’s best to steer clear of Trump. ‘Everyone has to make their own choice, but at this point, 70 percent of the American public doesn’t like Donald Trump. That’s as toxic as we’ve seen in American politics,’ said Stuart Stevens, a longtime Republican strategist who helped to craft the party’s 2012 convention.”

Former Sen. Gordon Humphrey [R-NH]: “Calling @realDonaldTrump a ‘dangerous sociopath’ Fmr NH Sen Gordon Humphrey pushing toward a convention coup.”

Brent Swander, Ohio-based Republican operative: “Right now I feel no obligation to lift a finger to help Donald Trump…Everything that we’re taught as children — not to bully, not to demean, to treat others with respect — everything we’re taught as children is the exact opposite of what the Republican nominee is doing. How do you work for somebody like that? What would I tell my family?”

ABC: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Declines to Say If Trump Is Qualified to Be POTUS: “Pressed by ABC Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on whether he thinks Trump is qualified, McConnell replied, ‘I leave it up to the American people to decide.’”

North Carolina GOP delegate Mark Mahaffey: “I don’t want [Trump] to have the nomination…I don’t trust him. I don’t think he’s very stable.”

Lori Sturdevant, conservative columnist for the Star Tribune: “The incomparable and inescapable (and some would add insufferable) Donald J. Trump appears to be the inevitable Republican presidential nominee this year, whether Minnesota Republicans like it or not. But that doesn’t mean the Minnesotans have to put on a false show of party unity. Or should.”

TPM: Carroll Correll, Virginia GOP official, files suit to unbind his vote for Trump at GOP convention: “Correll believes that Donald Trump is unfit to serve as President of the United States and that voting for Donald Trump would therefore violate Correll’s conscience,’ the complaint said. ‘Accordingly, Correll will not vote for Donald Trump on the first ballot, or any other ballot, at the national convention. He will cast his vote on the first ballot, and on any additional ballots, for a candidate whom he believes is fit to serve as President.’”

Henry Paulson Jr,. former U.S. Treasury Secretary under President George W. Bush: “Republicans stand at a crossroads. With Donald Trump as the presumptive presidential nominee, we are witnessing a populist hijacking of one of the United States’ great political parties. The GOP, in putting Trump at the top of the ticket, is endorsing a brand of populism rooted in ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism. This troubles me deeply as a Republican, but it troubles me even more as an American. Enough is enough. It’s time to put country before party and say it together: Never Trump.”

Kendal Unruh, Founder of “Free the Delegates”: “We’re watching the entire disintegration of the Trump train right in front of us…My party’s been hijacked. We truly look at this as a last ditch attempt to same the party.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich: “Don’t look for Ohio Gov. John Kasich on stage at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. A spokesman said Tuesday that the former GOP presidential contender has neither sought nor expects a speaking slot at the party’s signature event….Kasich has declined to endorse Trump, whose statements on race, religion and immigration cut against the unifying message of Kasich’s campaign. Trump has said he won’t invite speakers who don’t endorse him.”

Huffington Post: A Whole Bunch Of Influential GOP Latinos Aren’t Backing Trump: “Trump desperately needs a strong showing with the Latino community if he is to have a chance in the general election. But without top Latino Republican officials amplifying his message or activating their networks of donors and supporters, an already difficult task may become nearly impossible.”

Joe Cunningham, contributor to Redstate.com: “Donald Trump is a coward … Trump is unqualified to lead Republicans if he can’t stand up for one of the most fundamental parts of the Republican Party platform.”

Leon Wolf, Managing Editor of Redstate.com: “Hi @realDonaldTrump. Question: if Ruth B. Ginsburg had insulted your hat, would you have issued a statement on the TX abortion decision yet?”

Jay Cost, conservative commentator: “Trump’s absurd approach to the campaign has alienated voters and Republican donors, leaving him without the resources to mount a traditional campaign. This lack of tradition support makes him more dependent upon ‘earned media,’ which means he has to go do interviews, where he says crazy stuff, which further alienates people, etc.”

Sen. Mike Lee [R-UT]: “I have not endorsed Mr. Trump.  I’m still looking for a presidential candidate who will embrace the constitutional reform agenda.”

Letter from GOP Activists to RNC Delegates: “Your due diligence as delegates requires that you demand full financial disclosure, including tax returns, as a condition for placing a candidate’s name in nomination, and that you favor a ruling allowing abstentions by delegates otherwise bound by state provisions,” reads the letter in part. The signers refer to an unvetted Trump candidacy as a “pig in a poke.”

Peggy Noonan, conservative columnist: “Donald Trump needs serious, substantive people to help with his campaign and advise him in foreign and domestic policy. But some will not join him because they don’t want to get Trump cooties. They don’t want the stigma of working with him.”

Redstate.com: Why Is The Donald Trump Campaign Committing Campaign Finance Felonies?: “It seems that the Trump campaign, at least in the person of one of his big-foreheaded gits, Eric Trump, is actively soliciting donations from British Members of Parliament…It is very strange that a man who claims to put America first and that he is self-financing his campaign has turned to begging foreigners for campaign contributions.”

Vanity Fair: Donald Trump’s New Comms Director Deletes His Mean Tweets About Trump: “On Monday, the Trump campaign hired Jason Miller, formerly a top aide to Ted Cruz, to be the campaign’s communications director. Miller…was with Cruz until the bitter end, through thick and thin—not to mention Trump’s assault on “Lyin’ Ted” and his wife’s looks. At the time of Trump’s attacks, Miller responded with a series of tweets slamming “#SleazyDonald” for going after Heidi Cruz. Those tweets, however, were apparently deleted around the time he signed on with the Donald.”

Think Progress: What Donald Trump’s New Communications Director Really Thinks Of Donald Trump, In 11 Deleted Tweets: “Today Trump was able to fill a key role. Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser for Ted Cruz, signed up to be Trump’s communications director. Before Miller signed on, however, he had some cleaning up to do. Miller deleted dozens of harshly anti-Trump tweets from his Twitter account, many of them authored just a few weeks ago… He repeatedly referred to Trump as #SleazyDonald… He called Trump ‘the Carl Lewis of flip-flopping’… He accused Trump of being a pawn for lobbyists representing foreign companies… He mocked Trump University.”

Jason Miller: On Trump’s economic plan: “That’s in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s economic plan, which seems to be: ‘Hey, everybody, look. I’m rich. Maybe you can be rich too…When you’re out in real America, people are hurting, and what they care about is putting food on the table and helping their families.”

Jason Miller: “Trying to wage a battle of substance against Trump is pretty futile effort.”

Jason Miller: “Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Cruz, said Trump’s comments about the Sept. 11 attacks were ‘completely out of step with the Republican base and most Americans overall. I think it will reverberate not just here in South Carolina but across the field for as long as this contest continues.”

Jason Miller: “Donald Trump didn’t look presidential tonight and he lost a lot of votes.”

Jason Miller: “Jason Miller, a spokesman for Cruz, said the word ‘liar’ has become the ‘only message’ from Trump or Rubio.”

Jason Miller: “Trump’s record on eminent domain is just one issue causing conservatives to say, ‘Trump’s not one of us.’’”

President George W. Bush: “[The] presidency is a serious job that requires sound judgment and good ideas…Strength is not empty rhetoric, it is not bluster, but rather based on”integrity and character. In my experience, the strongest person usually isn’t the loudest in the room.”

President George W. Bush: “I understand that Americans are angry and frustrated. But we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our anger and frustration. We need someone who can fix the problems that cause their anger and frustration.”

President George H.W. Bush: “For the first time since his own presidency, George H.W. Bush is planning to stay silent in the race for the Oval Office — and the younger former president Bush plans to stay silent as well. Bush 41, who enthusiastically endorsed every Republican nominee for the past five election cycles, will stay out of the campaign process this time. He does not have plans to endorse presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.”

President George H.W. Bush: “In July, even after breaking a vertebra in a fall that left him hospitalized in Maine, the elder Mr. Bush was fuming at the news of the day: Mr. Trump had belittled Sen. John McCain of Arizona for being taken prisoner in Vietnam. ‘I can’t understand how somebody could say that and still be taken seriously,’ said Mr. Bush, himself a naval aviator in World War II, according to his longtime spokesman.”

Mitt Romney: “Add Mitt Romney to the list of Republicans who won’t support Donald Trump as the presumptive party nominee. ‘I see way too much demagoguery and populism…I only hope and aspire that we’ll see more greatness.’”

Mitt Romney: “I wanted my grandkids to see that I simply couldn’t ignore what Mr. Trump was saying and doing, which revealed a character and temperament unfit for the leader of the free world…others, including myself, believe our first priority should be to stand by our principles and if those are in conflict with the nominee, the principles come first.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell [R-KY]: “Trump clearly needs to change, in my opinion, to win the general election…my hope is that he is beginning to pivot and become what I would call a more serious and credible candidate for the highest office in the land.”

Mark Salter, longtime speechwriter and adviser to Sen. John McCain [R-AZ]: “[Trump] possesses the emotional maturity of a 6-year-old. He can’t let go of any slight, real or imagined, from taunts about the length of his fingers to skepticism about his portfolio. So shaky is his psyche that he’s compelled to fits of self-sabotage to defend his self-regard, as was the case in his racist, politically devastating attacks on U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel. He views the powers of the presidency as weapons to punish people who’ve been mean to him – reporters, rival candidates, critics. ‘They better be careful,’ he warns.”

Sen. Mike Lee [R-UT]: “[Trump] accused my best friend’s father of conspiring to kill JFK. We can go through the fact that he’s made statements that some have identified correctly as religiously intolerant. We can get into the fact that he’s wildly unpopular in my state, in part because my state consists of people who are members of a religious minority church. A people who were ordered exterminated by the governor of Missouri in 1838. And statements like that make them nervous.”

Boston Herald: Some Mass. GOP leaders will skip Donald Trump fundraiser: “Several top Bay State Republicans are staying away from Donald Trump’s ritzy Boston fundraising luncheon this week — rescheduled for Wednesday following the Orlando shootings — as the GOP presidential nominee scrambles to boost his campaign coffers.”

Nicolle Wallace, former White House Communications Director under President George W. Bush: “Party leaders have watched the last eight weeks of the Trump candidacy the way you experience a chase scene in a dream where your legs never move fast enough to outrun the three-headed dragon on roller skates….The problem with Mr. Trump’s campaign lies in the solutions he proposes — a lurch toward the isolationism, protectionism and nativism.”

Paul Singer, hedge fund manager and major GOP donor: “The most impactful of the economic policies that I recall him coming out for are these anti-trade policies. And I think if he actually stuck to those policies and gets elected president, it’s close to a guarantee of a global depression, widespread global depression.”

Sen. John McCain [R-AZ]: “Republican Sen. John McCain is hitting back at Donald Trump’s renewed calls for torture in the aftermath of the deadly terror attack at the Istanbul airport in Turkey. “It’s not the United States of America. It’s not what we are all about. It’s not what we are,” the Arizona lawmaker and former prisoner of war in North Vietnam said to applause at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington on Wednesday.”

WSJ Editorial: Donald Trump’s Tariff Party: “Americans are frustrated by slow economic and wage growth, but the first obligation of political leaders is not to deceive them with false remedies. Mr. Trump’s tariff remedy would face furious foreign opposition, and it would probably end in tears if he imposed it.”

The Washington Post: Why is Trump trailing? Half of Republicans wish they had a different nominee: “When Republicans were asked if they wanted Trump or ‘someone else’ – a majority picked someone else. That split includes a wide majority of women and of those with a college degree. Remember: This is only among Republicans.”

Ken Adelman, U.S. arms control director under President Ronald Reagan: “Not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but also I am not voting for any Republican who endorsed or supported Trump—be it for Senate, House, alderman, or county clerk. And yes, I will vote for Clinton, simply because to not vote, or to vote Libertarian, would be a half-vote for Trump.”

Dr. Patrick Cronin, a senior official at USAID during the W. Bush administration: “Only one candidate has thought through America’s challenges, understands policy, has a positive and inclusive vision, is smart about the world in which we live, and is ready to be president, and I intend to vote for her—Hillary Clinton.”

Philip Levy, member of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors: “I said ‘Never Trump’ and I meant it. If Secretary Clinton is the only viable alternative, I would expect to support her.”

Sen. Susan Collins [R-ME]: “I don’t like that Donald Trump calls anyone names. I think that that is un-presidential and not worthy of the kind of public discourse that we should have… I think that demeans her accomplishments, and as a woman, I am particularly concerned when someone demeans the accomplishments of a person who has done a lot in her life, even if I don’t agree with that person.”

Kevin Williamson, National Review correspondent: “The Republicans who promised to support the nominee no matter who made an error in judgment. That’s forgivable. But now it is time to admit the error, step up, and do the right thing. In this case, that means taking a page from the Reagan playbook, meaning the Nancy Reagan playbook: Just say, ‘No.’”

Rep. Joe Pitts [R-PA]: “Endorsed Trump? No. But he has said he’ll vote for him. Pitts was among a group of Berks County lawmakers who slammed Trump in December before he headlined a fundraiser at the PA Society, saying about his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country: “The threat of Muslim terrorism is grave, but we don’t defend our core principles by sacrificing them during times of trial.” Comments: His spokeswoman Anna Swick said only: “Congressman Pitts will not attend the convention.””

Time: Republicans Are Being Awfully Nice to Hillary Clinton These Days: “A number of prominent Republicans have endorsed Clinton this month, and others have complimented her. Hank Paulson, the former Treasury Secretary under President George W. Bush, said last week he would vote for her, and the prominent Republican national security advisor Brent Scowcroft also joined her corner. Former Bush Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage endorsed her the week before…. The difference this year is Trump, whose stormy weeks on the campaign trail and provocative comments have made many Republicans uneasy.”

CNN: Donald Trump: ‘I’m running against two parties’: “Republicans are trying to embrace Donald Trump – but he isn’t making it easy. Just three weeks before the party plans to coronate Trump as its 2016 standard-bearer at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, the presumptive nominee is keeping up the infighting that has troubled the GOP’s establishment for months.”

Politics USA: Toxic Trump Infects GOP As Republican Movement Grows Against Anyone Who Supports Nominee: “Things are so bad that a Reagan diplomat to the United Nations said he will not only not vote for Donald Trump, but he will not support any Republican who endorses or supports Trump.”

Jeb Bush: “The tragedy of [a Trump presidency] though is that there isn’t going to be a wall built and Mexico’s not going to pay for it. And there’s not going to be a ban on Muslims. None of that — this is all like an alternative universe that he created. The reality is that’s not going to happen, and people are going to be deeply frustrated in the divides will grow in our country. And this extraordinary country, still, the greatest country on the face of the earth will continue to stagger instead of soar. and that’s the heart-breaking part of this is I think people are really going to feel betrayed.”

Former Ohio Governor & Senator George Voinovich: “In late April, former Ohio Gov. and U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, who died June 12, said in our interview that Trump would be ‘a disaster for our party.’ Voinovich continued: ‘If he were elected president, it would be a disaster for the country.’”

Rep. Reid Ribble [R-WI]: “‘I just don’t see the chance of [Trump] being able to put Wisconsin in play,’ says GOP congressman Reid Ribble, who opposes Trump‘s nomination and refuses to support him in the general election.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan [R-WI]: ”Will Trump cost Republicans seats in Congress? Ryan smiled, and said, ‘I don’t know, we’ll see.’”

Walter Stern, board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition: “I’m waiting for him to come forward as a statesman [before I donate], and so far he hasn’t done it.”

Ari Fleischer, Republican Jewish Coalition board member & former White House Press Secretary: “My sense is that he has a blind spot when it comes to recognizing how his comments or actions can offend people. He keeps making it harder for people who want to be for him to be for him.”

Rep. Barbara Comstock [R-VA]: “Republican U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock will not attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next week, according to a spokesman with her office…This year, she’s been severely critical of presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling him a ‘New York Democrat’ who ‘doesn’t know anything about the economy’ and whose ‘daddy gave him his money.’”

New York Times: G.O.P.’s Brightest Stars Not in the Mix as Donald Trump Picks a Running Mate: “As Donald J. Trump prepares to select a running mate, he has whittled the list of potential partners to a slim few, including Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker, and Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, with whom he is set to campaign on Tuesday.Entirely absent are virtually all of the Republicans who were seen, as recently as a few months ago, as the bright stars of the party: Young officeholders who by virtue of their background or political biography, or the states they represented, seemed primed to expand the party’s electoral horizons.”

Former Sen. Kirk Dillard [R-IL]: “Add former governor hopeful Kirk Dillard to the list of prominent Republicans who won’t be heading to the GOP convention for the formal nomination of polarizing presidential candidate Donald Trump…AskedMonday why he won’t go to the convention to support Trump, Dillard paused, smiled at a group of reporters and said, ‘You know, I’ll get to you later on that,’ before walking away.”

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: “A conscience vote would be unprecedented, but then this entire year has no precedent. Republicans should nominate the best candidate they think has the best chance of winning in November. If that means a raucous debate on the floor, then Americans might appreciate the exercise in democratic self-government.”

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry: “Perry, who is supporting Trump, commented, ‘There are some that hear this is going to be 1,200 miles from Brownsville to El Paso, 30-foot high, and listen, I know you can’t do that.’ The former governor had previously indicated skepticism about Trump’s wall, telling a radio station in Des Moines, Iowa, in January that constructing such an edifice ‘will take literally years. I don’t care how good of a builder you are.’”

Politico: GOP operatives dread Trump convention: “‘This is the first year in the past two decades that Republicans aren’t excited about attending the convention. Normally, we’re all jazzed up about getting together and celebrating our nominee,’ said Chris Perkins, a GOP pollster who has attended every Republican convention since 1996. ‘There’s nothing to celebrate this cycle. I’m going because I have to, not because I want to.’”

Gov. Nikki Haley [R-SC]: “Rob Godfrey, a spokesman for Ms. Haley, said the governor declared in May that she did not want the job and has not budged. ‘Since the governor made it clear that she was not interested in serving as anyone’s vice president, there was no reason for her to participate in the vetting process,’ he said.”

John Weaver, Political Advisor to Gov. John Kasich [R-Ohio]: “[Weaver] said there had never been any possibility that Mr. Kasich would join forces with Mr. Trump. The governor has opted instead to defend his own brand of Republicanism, and has leveled pointed criticism at Mr. Trump since the last round of contested primaries in the spring. ‘We made sure there were no expectations back in May,’ Mr. Weaver said. ‘No avenue. No way. Not happening. Forget about it.’”