Schieffer: 'I Don't Know If The Republican Party Is Going To Survive'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- CBS News contributor Bob Schieffer doesn't know if the Republican Party will survive following the latest controversy involving presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
"I, right now, think the Republican Party is in crisis, and I don't know what's going to come out of this," the former "Face the Nation" host said on CBSN. "I don't know if the Republican Party is going to survive. I don't know what's going to happen there, but I have never seen a primary season end with the kind of comments and gloom that I see right now."
Top Republicans have denounced Trump's recent comments about the judge presiding over the Trump University lawsuits, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel. Trump said Curiel can't preside fairly over the case because the judge is of Mexican heritage and Trump wants to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Curiel was born in Indiana.
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House Speaker Paul Ryan said Trump's comments are the "textbook definition of a racist comment."
"I regret those comments he made. Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment," Ryan said at a news conference. "I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable."
Schieffer said a senator told him that if Trump doesn't do an about-face, he will lose more Republican support.
"I had one senator tell me today that he thought the next 48 hours would be crucial, that if he doesn't begin to pull back and just show a different face here in the next 48 hours, he said I think you're going to see more senators" drop their support for Trump, Schieffer explained.
Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., announced Tuesday that he was pulling his endorsement of Trump due to his comments of Curiel.
For his part, Trump said his comments about Curiel "have been misconstrued."
"It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage," Trump said in a statement Tuesday. "I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent."
Trump also said he felt "justified" in questioning Curiel's impartiality.
"The American justice system relies on fair and impartial judges. All judges should be held to that standard," the presumptive nominee said. "I do not feel that one's heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial."
Schieffer said Republicans just want Trump "to be quiet."
"They want him to get on with something else," Schieffer said.
(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
