Bill Press: It’s time to dump Trump

It’s the GOP’s time to seize the moment. 

Every one of the five Democratic and 14 Republican candidates who have declared for president in 2016 so far have, understandably, tried to orchestrate their announcement in order to garner the maximum amount of buzz. 

{mosads}Except for Donald Trump. He got a lot more buzz than he intended.

In what a conservative journalist colleague at the White House told me was “the worst racist rant he’d ever heard from any politician,” Trump explained his views on immigration by smearing the entire Latino community. 

The real estate mogul promised to build “a great wall” on the southern border — and have Mexico pay for it — because, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best.” Instead, Trump affirmed, “They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems to us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Those outrageous remarks triggered immediate, negative condemnation from the corporate world. In protest, NBC and Univision both dropped broadcast of the Trump-sponsored Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants. Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama withdrew their contestants and sponsors from the event. Macy’s stopped selling Trump shirts and ties.

By contrast, initial response from Trump’s fellow Republicans was either subdued or nonexistent — with the sole exception of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who said he agreed with Trump on the dangers of illegal immigration and praised him for being so “bold and brash.” 

It wasn’t until the July 4 weekend, more than two weeks later, that any grumbling was heard from Republican candidates. 

Rick Perry, the former Texas governor, said he was “offended” by Trump’s remarks about immigrants. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush criticized his comments as “extraordinarily ugly” and just plain “wrong.” Marco Rubio, the junior senator from Florida, called them “not just offensive and inaccurate, but also divisive.” All three added that Trump didn’t represent the Republican Party.

But there’s the problem. No matter how welcome the belated criticism of a few Republican candidates, Donald Trump is still a Republican candidate for president. He’ll be on the ballot, as a Republican, in all 50 states. And, because he already rates No. 2 in the latest Suffolk University poll of New Hampshire voters, unless the networks change their rules, on Aug. 6, he’ll walk out on stage as one of the top 10 contenders in the first GOP presidential debate.

What a potential disaster for the Republican Party. And yet, notice the stone silence of party officials. 

Where’s Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus? Where’s Mitt Romney, the GOP’s 2012 nominee, or Speaker John Boehner or Senate leader Mitch McConnell? Where’s anybody willing to stand up and say: Donald Trump doesn’t stand for us, and we don’t stand for him. We don’t want him in our party. We don’t just take anybody in. Let him run as an independent. We refuse to accept him as a Republican Party candidate for president, and we will block him from any GOP debate.

Now’s the time for the Republican Party to demonstrate it has some sense of decency. Now’s the time to dump Donald Trump.  

Press is host of “The Bill Press Show” on Free Speech TV and author of The Obama Hate Machine.