Joe Scarborough, New York Times, GOP insiders urge Trump to abandon race

After weeks of Donald Trump's disastrous gaffes and a failure to "pivot" to a more presidential demeanor, everyone from The New York Daily News to Joe Scarborough to a fifth of regular Republican voters now want Donald Trump to call it quits.

"A bloody line has been crossed that cannot be ignored," the co-host of Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough, said in a Washington Post opinion piece. "At long last, Donald Trump has left the Republican Party few options but to act decisively and get this political train wreck off the tracks before something terrible happens."

The New York Times has also been highly critical of Trump, with Matt Latimer suggesting Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, should urge the candidate to leave the race. "Mr. Pence is among the few who could stop this — now. And, if he has any question about whether Donald Trump can do the job, then he has a responsibility to step aside himself if Mr. Trump won't," Latimer wrote.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

And on Wednesday, the Times' editorial board called for John McCain and other Republicans to reject Trump: "Republicans would do well to summon the integrity that Mr. McCain showed in 2008, and not just to give some sense of decency to this ugly campaign. The time has come for Republicans — including Mr. McCain — to repudiate Mr. Trump once and for all," the editors said.

A recent Politico poll also found that a panel of GOP insiders — defined by Politico as "a panel of activists, strategists, and operatives in 11 swing states" — want Trump out. A whole 70 percent said Trump needs to drop out of the race and be replaced by a different Republican candidate.