Top GOP fundraiser: Trump ‘making it tough’ to unify party
The finance chair of the Republican Governors Association says Donald Trump is making it hard to unify the GOP.
Fred Malek on MSNBC Thursday said he’s “seen no signs” that Trump, the party’s presumptive nominee, would tone down his attacks on rivals and critics.
“Unfortunately, he will take a step forward or two steps forward and two steps backward,” Malek added.
{mosads}“Politics is a game of addition, not subtraction. He can do it, but he’s making it tougher for Republicans to come together.”
Malek chastised Trump for criticizing Gov. Susana Martinez (R-N.M.) and the federal judge overseeing a lawsuit over Trump University.
“Why would anybody with forethought go out and criticize the first-ever Latina governor in United States history and a really good Republican and chairman of the Republican Governors Association to boot?” he asked. “It makes no sense whatsoever.
“Furthermore, I don’t think he thought through what he was going to say when he attacked the judge who’s going to be hearing the Trump University case because of that person’s Hispanic background,” Malek added of Trump’s remarks about District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel.
“This turns people off. He’s got to exert more discipline. He’s got to think things through and stay on his script and not go off on such tangents.”
Trump last week slammed Curiel as a “hater,” claiming the judge had a vendetta against him fueled by his “Mexican” heritage.
Curiel, whose parents were immigrants to Indiana, is judging a lawsuit over Trump’s controversial for-profit real estate program.
Trump also blasted Martinez last month, charging that she was not “doing the job” for New Mexico’s voters.
“Hey, maybe I’ll run for governor of New Mexico,” he said on May 25 in Albuquerque. “I’ll get this place going. We’ve got to get her moving. Come on, let’s go governor.”
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