With time running out until the first primary votes are cast, establishment Republicans have begun a ferocious round of finger-pointing over who is to blame for the partys failure to stop Donald Trump.
The chiding, once limited to private conversations, is now erupting in public view with campaigns, operatives, donors, party officials, and conservative intellectuals arguing over why something hasnt been done to stop the man who has been leading nearly every state and national poll since August. Trump, many in the GOPs upper ranks are convinced, would lead the Republican Party to an epic defeat in November, with consequences all the way down the ballot.
This whole thing is a disaster, said Curt Anderson, a former Republican National Committee political director and veteran operative. I think Ill write a book about it.
Receiving much of the blame is Right to Rise, the cash-flush super PAC that broke records when it announced last year that it had raised more than $100 million in support of Jeb Bush. The group has directed relatively little of that sum toward attacking Trump instead focusing its efforts on taking down Bushs establishment rivals, above all Marco Rubio. To date, the group has spent around $5 million on TV commercials going after Trump, while dropping four times as much in negative ads against Rubio. The latest spot, which came Tuesday, hammered Rubio over his messy financial history.
Yet others say its unfair to solely blame Bush and that Rubio is just as culpable. Despite winning the support of an array of deep-pocketed donors, including hedge fund manager Paul Singer and tech titan Larry Ellison, Rubio has and his allies have done little to attack Trump. Of the $33 million that Rubio and the super PACs supporting him have spent on television ads, none of it has been against Trump. He rarely tweets about Trump, and when asked about him in interviews, Rubio tends to dodge the question.
