First Read: GOP, Trump Go From 'Unraveling' to 'B

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First Read: GOP, Trump Go From 'Unraveling' to 'Break Glass' Mode

by Chuck Todd and Carrie Dann

Yesterday morning, we wrote that Donald Trump's campaign seemed like it was unraveling over his inexplicable clash with the Khan family. Twenty-four hours later, the word "unraveling" seems like an understatement. Take a look at what's happened in the last 24 hours:

•In a Washington Post interview, Trump declined to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan against his primary challenger

•He reiterated that he hasn't endorsed Sen. John McCain and said the onetime prisoner of war "has not done a good job for the vets"

•He slapped out at Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, saying "she has given me zero support"

•He suggested that Americans should pull their 401(k) funds out of the stock market

•He said he's "always wanted" to receive a Purple Heart but that having one gifted to him by a supporter was "much easier"

•He said that the handling of sexual harassment has "got to be up to the individual"

•He accused Khizr Khan of being "bothered" by his plan to keep terrorists out of the country, and said that he had no regrets about his clash with the family

•He appeared to feud with a crying baby during a rally

•He reiterated that "if the election is rigged, I would not be surprised"

•The sitting president of the United States publicly called Trump "unfit to serve" and urged Republicans to withdraw their support for him.

•Trump spokesman Katrina Pierson suggested that Obama and Clinton are to blame for the death of Humayan Khan, who died in 2004, when neither were in the executive branch at the time

•An ally of Paul Manafort told our colleague John Harwood at CNBC that the campaign chairman is "mailing it in," leaving the rest of the staff "suicidal."

•Sitting GOP congressman Richard Hanna, HP head Meg Whitman and former Christie aide Maria Comella all said they plan to vote for Hillary Clinton

•The Washington Post released a transcript of its full interview with Trump, indicating among other things that he paused five times to watch TV coverage in the middle of the sit-down

•A GOP source told NBC's Katy Tur that Reince Priebus is "apoplectic" over Trump's refusal to endorse Ryan and is making calls to the campaign to express his "extreme displeasure"

What are we missing? Any one of these items would be problematic on a normal campaign day. This all happened since 8am yesterday.

With all that, do we need to be asking a new question: Do Republicans go public with their hope that Trump withdraws from the race?

We're at the point where there's GOP chatter about key Republicans coming out hard against their own nominee - and especially eyeing Trump's falling polling numbers to gauge the point at which they need to come up with a "break glass" backup plan to save down-ballot seats.

Republicans have been hoping that Trump would change his ways for nearly the entirety of his campaign to no avail. (And for a GOPer, it's got to be hard to read the transcript of that Washington Post interview and come away not thinking that something drastic has to be done.)

If you're a Republican, can you just un-endorse Trump, or do you take the next step to push the candidate to get out now for the good of the party?

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/fi...de-n622116

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