Republican officials are distancing themselves in droves, but it may be too late to save the party in Congress.By JASON L. RILEY
Updated Oct. 11, 2016 7:27 p.m. ET
http://www.wsj.com/articles/is-trump-taking-the-gop-down-with-him-1476228387The exercise in GOP self-preservation prompted, ostensibly, by the leaked recording of Donald Trump’s lewd remarks was necessary and a long time coming. The question is whether Republicans in Congress have waited too long to part ways publicly with their party’s presidential nominee.
Mr. Trump’s second debate performance was better than his first one in some respects and good enough to keep running mate Mike Pence from abandoning the ticket. Other Republican officeholders, however, are unpersuaded. They’ve concluded that Mr. Trump is not only losing the presidential race but also seriously jeopardizing Republican control of the House and Senate. GOP leaders in Congress—including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who now says he will not campaign with Mr. Trump or otherwise defend him—are convinced that the billionaire is damaged goods. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is likewise telling his caucus members that they have no obligation to support the top of the ticket.
The GOP panic is warranted. If Mr. Trump hasn’t matured in the past 70 years, he’s unlikely to do so in the next 27 days. There’s “locker-room talk,” and then there’s telling Howard Stern that it’s OK to refer to your daughter as “a piece of ass.”
Mr. Trump’s debate performance shored up his base. That needed doing—which is the problem. A presidential candidate who is still playing primarily to his base less than a month before Election Day is a presidential candidate in trouble. Republican support for Mr. Trump has never been deep; pluralities carried him to the nomination. National polls that include Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein have seldom shown Mr. Trump winning more than 40% support, and he’s underperforming all previous GOP presidential candidates among college-educated whites, a group that his opponent is carrying by double-digits.
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