Post by Logan on Jan 22, 2016 19:38:36 GMT -6
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Donald Trump and some mainstream Republicans are engaged in a long-distance flirtation. Both sides are coming to the realization that they'll need each other if the billionaire businessman becomes the party's presidential nominee.
The GOP establishment is no fonder of Trump than when he first roiled the campaign last summer with his controversial comments about immigrants and women. But with voting beginning in just over a week, his durability atop preference polls has pushed some donors, strategists and party elders to grudgingly accept the prospect of his winning the nomination.
"We'd better stop hoping for something else and accept the possibility that he's our nominee and be prepared to rally around him if that's the case," said Fred Malek, a top Republican presidential fundraiser.
Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican nominee who represented Kansas in the House and Senate for decades, said of Trump: "He's got this personality where I do believe he could work with Congress."
Continued at hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOP_2016_TRUMP_ESTABLISHMENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-22-17-05-11 .
The GOP establishment is no fonder of Trump than when he first roiled the campaign last summer with his controversial comments about immigrants and women. But with voting beginning in just over a week, his durability atop preference polls has pushed some donors, strategists and party elders to grudgingly accept the prospect of his winning the nomination.
"We'd better stop hoping for something else and accept the possibility that he's our nominee and be prepared to rally around him if that's the case," said Fred Malek, a top Republican presidential fundraiser.
Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican nominee who represented Kansas in the House and Senate for decades, said of Trump: "He's got this personality where I do believe he could work with Congress."
Continued at hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GOP_2016_TRUMP_ESTABLISHMENT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-22-17-05-11 .