16:30

The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs has more on the clatch of conservatives hoping to stage an intervention with Donald Trump after six calamitous days for his campaign:

Donald Trump. Photograph: Molly Riley/AFP/Getty Images

Although there had long been the belief among party elders that Trump, whose success as a candidate has been attributed to outlandish statements and a yen for courting controversy, would pivot in a general election and somehow become a more sober, focused political figure, that expectation increasingly seems like wishful thinking on their part. Instead, top Republicans are expressing growing regret that they have hitched their wagon to such a flawed candidate.

Now, GOP figures are trying to make peace with the fact that Trump, who even seemed to pick a fight with a bawling infant at a campaign rally on Tuesday, is not becoming more “presidential”. Instead, the Trump who is bashing McCain as having “not done a good job for the vets” is the same erratic candidate who prompted party elders to roll their eyes in the summer of 2015 when he said John McCain “was not a war hero”.

Trump’s unusual behavior is also prompting some prominent Republicans to jump ship. While many top GOP figures have insisted that they would not vote for Trump under any circumstances, including Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, this week marked the first time outside of national security circles that any explicitly said that they would support Hilary Clinton.

On Tuesday, Richard Hanna, a retiring GOP congressman from upstate New Yorkannounced that he would be voting for Clinton in November. In an op-ed in the Syracuse Post-Standard, Hanna wrote: “While I disagree with her on many issues, I will vote for Mrs Clinton. I will be hopeful and resolute in my belief that being a good American who loves his country is far more important than parties or winning and losing.”

Hanna has been joined in his support for Clinton by former top staffers for Jeb Bush and Chris Christie as well as former California gubernatorial candidate and top Republican donor Meg Whitman, who told the New York Times that she would raise money for the former secretary of state.