But that right there is the problem with all this talk of the Republican Party dropping Trump to save itself, say some Republicans: Donald Trump isn't the only one who could be left high and dry. It's very likely the party would struggle without Trump.

That's because the party arguably needs him as much as Trump needs them.

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Here's why it's not that simple for the Republican Party to just drop Trump.

1) It needs his money

Trump isn't the best fundraiser in the world, but he's still the nominee. And he's still out there raising money. Of the $27 million that the Republican National Committee raised in July, $14 million came from a joint fundraising committee the party has with the Trump campaign.

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If RNC Chairman Reince Priebus decided to drop Trump tomorrow, there's a very real risk he'd lose the steady flow of cash Trump is providing it. A scorned Trump could simply threaten to stop raising money for the party after it stops spending any money on him.

That cash isn't a windfall or anything — Trump and his affiliated joint fundraising committees and super PACs have raised about half of what Hillary Clinton and her team have raised so far. But it's cash the RNC is counting on.

2) It needs his supporters

Paradoxically, cutting Trump to save Republicans' majorities in Congress could cost Republicans their majorities in Congress.

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If Trump loses by 10 or 15 points this November — no one really knows the exact number — most smart political observers think he'll take down a lot of congressional Republicans with him.

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A Hillary Clinton landslide means Republican voters aren't showing up to the polls, and rare is the Republican lawmaker who can survive without a certain threshold of Republican votes. Republicans' control over the Senate and even the House of Representatives, where they have a historically large majority, could fall.

Top Republicans may indeed be betting Trump will lose, but you could argue they have an incentive to help prop Trump's barebones campaign up to make sure he doesn't lose that badly.

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(There's a counterargument to this that cutting Trump loose might actually help some Republicans with turnout: They can campaign on not providing Clinton a "blank check," a line some strategist think will motivate turnout among moderate Republicans and independents.)

3) It needs his image

Cutting off ties with Trump could also backfire for a Republican Party trying to hold itself together.

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If Republican Party elites decide to drop Trump — especially before his supporters have conceded he'll lose — what message does that send to Trump supporters? I'm willing to bet the message they'll hear is: The party is going its own way, Trump supporters be damned.

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There may be a tipping point where almost everyone in the party, elite and grass roots alike, agree that Trump isn't going to win the election. That's basically what happened when the GOP abandoned nominee Bob Dole in 1996.

But that was several weeks before the election. We're not there yet, in terms of time or political sentiment.

Right now, getting rid of Trump would probably exacerbate the anti-establishment tensions that arguably fueled his rise in the first place.