As the second GOP presidential debate looms ahead, and Trump is expected to skip it just as he did the first one, donors for Republican candidates challenging him are beginning to worry that the window of opportunity to defeat him is closing, CNN reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, many of these donors feel as though their only shot is to clear the field now, and prevent candidates from splitting the non-Trump vote as much as they currently are.
“My basic pitch is we don’t have the luxury of time,” said New York GOP attorney Eric Levine, who is backing Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) for president. “Asa Hutchinson has got to go away. Chris Christie has got to go away. Gov. (Doug) Burgum has to get off the stage. They have no shot.”
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“I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to have an impact on this race,” said New Jersey GOP donor Frayda Levin, who is on the board of the right-wing advocacy group Club for Growth. “Every Republican’s dilemma right now is: Do we try and undermine and destroy Trump, only to have it come back and haunt us because he’s the candidate, and it’s Trump or Biden?”
Compounding the issue for Republicans, said the report, is that key GOP donors and public figures have been slow to endorse anyone else, unsure of whom they should back in the race.
Recent polling shows that Trump's lead over his nearest rivals has widened to a 40-point average. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once thought to be the strongest alternative to Trump, has now faded so far in polls that he is in danger of no longer even remaining the runner-up.
