GOP reaches 'new level of panic' over Trump

Turmoil in the Republican Party escalated Wednesday as party leaders, strategists and donors voiced increased alarm about the flailing state of Donald Trump's candidacy and fears that the presidential nominee was damaging the party with an extraordinary week of self-inflicted mistakes, gratuitous attacks and missed opportunities.

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus was described as "very frustrated" with and deeply disturbed by Trump's behavior over the last week, having run out of excuses to make on the nominee's behalf to donors and other party leaders, according to multiple people familiar with the events.

Meanwhile, Trump's top campaign advisers are struggling once again to instill discipline in their candidate, who has spent recent days lunging from one controversy to another while seemingly skipping chances to go on the offensive against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

"A new level of panic hit the street," said longtime operative Scott Reed, chief strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "It's time for a serious reset."

Trump allies on Wednesday publicly urged the candidate to reboot, furious that he has allowed his confrontation with the Muslim parents of dead Army Capt. Humayun Khan to continue for nearly a week. They also are angry with Trump because of his refusal in an interview with the Washington Post on Tuesday to endorse two of the GOP's top elected officials - House Speaker Paul Ryan and Arizona Sen. John McCain - ahead of their primary elections.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, one of Trump's most loyal defenders, warned that his friend was in danger of throwing away the election and helping to make Clinton president. "The current race is which of these two is the more unacceptable, because right now neither of them is acceptable," he said. "Trump is helping her to win by proving he is more unacceptable than she is."

Gingrich said that Trump has only a matter of weeks to reverse course. "Anybody who is horrified by Hillary should hope that Trump will take a deep breath and learn some new skills," he said. "He cannot win the presidency operating the way he is now. She can't be bad enough to elect him if he's determined to make this many mistakes."

Campaigning in Florida, Trump sought to pivot away from his problems. He addressed the controversy and speculation, saying his campaign is "doing really well" and has "never been this well united," then focused renewed attacks on Clinton and President Obama.

But the idea that the campaign was fully united was undercut when Mike Pence, Trump's vice presidential running mate, told Fox News Channel that he "strongly endorsed" Ryan in his primary campaign. Other Republicans viewed the endorsement as a sign that he is having some influence within the campaign, said a person familiar with Pence's role.

Campaign manager Paul Manafort went on cable news channels earlier in the day to try to tamp down the rampant criticism of the GOP nominee, saying that reports of a campaign staff in crisis were incorrect. He said the campaign is "focused," in "very good shape" and "moving forward."

Throughout the day, there were also persistent reports that allies of Trump, including Priebus, Gingrich and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, were trying to arrange a meeting with Trump to urge him to refocus his candidacy. Manafort, when asked on Fox News about such a meeting, said he knew nothing about it. "Not me," Gingrich said in an email when asked if he were part of a meeting.

A knowledgeable GOP strategist said, "It's not happening," then added, "It doesn't take a genius to know that calling Donald Trump and yelling at him is never going to work."

At past moments of crisis in the campaign, Trump's children have played an influential role, and there was some hope within the party that they could again provide help. Bloomberg Politics reported Wednesday afternoon, however, that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump had left for a hunting trip outside the country.

Friends and allies of Manafort disputed reports that the top adviser had given up on Trump, describing him as fully committed to waging a successful campaign. But they said Manafort has been frustrated by Trump's apparent lack of discipline on the stump and in his many media interviews.

"Paul has good influence with Donald," said Charlie Black, a GOP strategist and former business partner of Manafort. "But he's Donald and he's going to operate stream of consciousness a lot of times. You just hope he'll have more days on message than days on consciousness."

From Washington to state capitals nationwide, a feeling of despair and despondence fell over the Republican establishment.

Trump suffered two defections Wednesday when Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Iraq war veteran, said on CNN that he is unlikely to vote for Trump because the nominee was "beginning to cross a lot of red lines of the unforgivable in politics."

Former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, a former RNC chairman and a close associate of former president George W. Bush, said he won't vote for Trump.

Also, Meg Whitman, a major GOP fund-raiser and former Hewlett-Packard executive, has come out for Clinton.