Several high-profile Republicans spoke out against Donald Trump after his controversial appearance on Wednesday at the NABJ Conference.
There are Republicans who are willing to defend Trump as Brian Kilmeade attempted to do this morning on Fox & Friends this morning. But many others spoke out against the former President as his fall from the top of the polls continued.
Larry Hogan, a Maryland senate candidate, was among the first to call out Trump, though he avoided doing so by name. He tweeted, "It's unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity. The American people deserve better."
John Thune, one of the top Republicans in the Senate, wanted the Trump campaign to focus more on the issues than on Harris' race. He told reporters, "The campaign is, needs to be, must be about the issues, and there’s plenty to talk about. I just think that’s where the focus needs to be."
Lisa Murkowski, who has regularly been willing to criticize Trump in the past, blamed the candidate's campaign team, saying, "Maybe they don't know how to handle the campaign, and so you default to issues that just should simply not be an issue."
Of course, the elephant in the room is that Trump is a petulant bigot who is liable to say anything at any moment and no campaign team is going to be able to fix that.