As crisis engulfed Donald Trump's presidential campaign, with dozens of rank-and-file Republicans demanding he step aside or revoking their endorsements Saturday, House and Senate GOP leaders did the same thing they've done for months: nothing.

Trump's performance in Sunday's debate with Hillary Clinton will decide whether they continue to implicitly support him or go their own way. The latter course would mean ceding the battle for the White House in a desperate — and unprecedented — bid to save their House and Senate majorities. Either path has huge risks, yet at this point, GOP leaders privately believe that the cautious approach of "condemning but still supporting" is their only viable option.


Friday's release of the 2005 video of Trump talking about his exploits with women in vulgar and predatory language has plunged party leaders — like all Republicans — into uncharted territory. At this point, they're just trying to figure out how to survive politically.

"There is no reason, or any real way, for us to get out front of this," said a top GOP lawmaker, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "We will see if he really is contrite during on Sunday night, and how he performs. Then we'll go from there."

Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued forceful statements condemning Trump. Ryan also rescinded an invitation to Trump to appear at a Wisconsin political event this weekend, a blunt repudiation of the nominee.

“There is a bit of an elephant in the room, and it is a troubling situation," Ryan admitted during Saturday's event, as he and other Wisconsin Republicans faced boos and jeers from Trump supporters upset about the speaker's handling of the scandal. "I put out a statement about this last night. I meant what I said, and it's still how I feel. But that is not what we are here to talk about today."

Yet that's as far as either Ryan or McConnell went. No broader discussion of whether to abandon Trump. No demands that he step aside. No conference calls with their members to review about the situation. No additional statements to the media.

Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune, No. 3 in leadership, publicly declared that Trump should step aside in favor of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the vice presidential nominee. "Donald Trump should withdraw and Mike Pence should be our nominee effective immediately," Thune tweeted.

But other party leaders, despite a flurry of conversations, remained on the sidelines. They condemned Trump and took no further action, waiting to see what happens during Sunday's now even more vital showdown in St. Louis with Hillary Clinton.

House Republicans have scheduled a conference call for Monday with members to decide what to do next.

There are a number of reasons for GOP leadership's cautious approach. It reflects both Ryan and McConnell's personal style, as well as that of the other leaders.

Until his poor showing in the first debate on Sept. 26, Trump's unpopularity was not seen as a threat to their majorities, especially for House Republicans. "Trump is his own brand," Republican strategists have insisted throughout the year, insisting any fallout down-ballot will be limited even if Trump failed to win the presidency.

However, Trump's bad debate performance, followed up by his bizarre four-day attack against a former Miss Universe, started to undermine his support among independent voters, a key demographic for Republicans. That was all before the "Access Hollywood" video debacle derailed his campaign and raised serious doubts about whether he'd even make it until Election Day as the nominee.

Almost three dozen Republican House members and senators have already announced they want Trump out or that they're backing Pence, though the exodus is expected to slow on Sunday.

Another factor for Republican leaders is Trump's own unpredictablity, as well as his efforts to cast himself as an "outsider" looking to clean up the Washington morass. It's a nightmare scenario that may even be worse than the current mess.

If GOP congressional leaders do decide they want Trump out in favor of Pence or someone else, any effort by them to get him to step aside could backfire and make Trump even more defiant. Convincing Trump to end his bid for the White House would have to come from his inner circle, not party elites. One top Republican noted that when Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, the decision came only after his most loyal supporters told him it was time to go.

"The people who have the least leverage with Trump is the leadership," said a senior GOP staffer. "If we tell him to go, that just means he'll stay and run against us."

Senate Republican leaders other than Thune were waiting to see how the Republican National Committee and Pence played the situation before coming out against Trump or continuing to stand by him as the nominee. With their majority in serious jeopardy, Senate Republicans wanted to understand the full ramifications of what happened before taking a hard line against Trump — and see if more damaging information was released, GOP sources said.

“Some folks want to see what happens,” said a senior GOP aide. “Before responding, [we] want to know [the] full fallout” of Trump’s remarks.

Senate Republicans insisted McConnell was not in hiding despite his low public profile since the scandal broke. The Kentucky Republican's statement about Trump’s “repugnant” comments was one of the harshest on Friday night, and it was interpreted as giving individuals senators the latitude to do whatever they needed to in order to win reelection.

McConnell would say nothing further on Saturday, and a spokesman advised that he would not be doing “hourly statements” on the matter.

There was no apparent coordination among the most endangered Republicans running for reelection to the Senate or seeking or open seats. Some of them — including Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), and Rep. Joe Heck (Nev.) — withdrew their support from Trump or announced they'd vote for Pence. Others like Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) denounced Trump but stopped short of breaking from him.

And still others, like Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), declined to say whether they now opposed the nominee.

More movement is almost certain, though, after the debate.

“Maybe some people will wait, some people will do it [before the debate], maybe some of it will happen on Monday,” said a Republican official said on Saturday. “Everyone’s sort of in a weird place right now.”



