--- title: Republican Letter Calls For RNC To Cut Donald Trump Funding description: Dozens of former top Republicans have signed a letter that calls for the party to cut funding to Donald Trump's presidential campaign canonical: https://time.com/4449116/donald-trump-rnc-funding-gop/ author: Will Drabold article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-11T20:17:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:44.554Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republican Letter Calls For RNC to Cut Funds to Donald Trump og:description: "This is the family trying to fix itself" og:url: https://time.com/4449116/donald-trump-rnc-funding-gop/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e406858ae10be7a/6988a2108e06016bed4671e2/trump-meltdown-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Abingdon, Virginia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republican Letter Calls For RNC to Cut Funds to Donald Trump twitter:description: "This is the family trying to fix itself" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e406858ae10be7a/6988a2108e06016bed4671e2/trump-meltdown-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read The Republican Letter Calling For The RNC to Cut Donald Trump's Funding > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Aug 11, 2016 8:17 PM UTC  Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Abingdon, Virginia, Aug. 10, 2016. Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Abingdon, Virginia, Aug. 10, 2016. Eric Thayer—Reuters by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Aug 11, 2016 8:17 PM UTC More than 70 top Republican elected officials and party operatives have signed a letter calling for the Republican National Committee to stop funding Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Former members of Congress, RNC staffers and other party insiders say the RNC should focus on Senate and House races where Republicans face tough elections. [The letter](https://www.scribd.com/document/320937832/Draft-Letter-to-the-RNC), first reported by [POLITICO](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/republicans-urge-rnc-cut-funds-trump-226918), says Trump has alienated “millions of voters” since the Republican National Convention with his repeated comments and gaffes that drew widespread criticism. “Every dollar spent by the RNC on Donald Trump’s campaign is a dollar of donor money wasted on the losing effort of a candidate who has actively undermined the GOP at every turn,” the letter states. “The RNC should shift its strategy and its resources to convince voters not to give Hillary Clinton the “blank check” of a Democrat-controlled Congress to advance her big government agenda.” The letter’s signatories include former New Hampshire Senator Gordon Humphrey, former GOP Congressmen Tom Coleman, Chris Shays, Mickey Edwards and Vin Weber. [Shays](http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/10/opinions/chris-shays-why-im-voting-for-hillary-clinton/) has said he will vote for Clinton while [Humphrey](http://www.politico.com/video/2016/08/fresh-batch-of-republicans-defect-to-clinton-060294) and [Weber](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/08/05/former%5Fgop%5Frep%5Fvin%5Fweber%5Fif%5Fmy%5Fvote%5Fdecided%5Fthe%5Felection%5Fi%5Fwould%5Fvote%5Ffor%5Fhillary.html) have said they would vote for her if the election was close. It also includes former heads of Communication, Grassroots Involvement, Digital and other departments at the RNC. [A Wednesday report said](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/republican-national-committee-trump-rnc-226844) several RNC staffers have left because they do not want to help elect Trump. “This is the family trying to fix itself,” said Andrew Weinstein, a former press aide to Senator Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich who works in communications consulting, who is circulating the letter. “This is an intervention by former RNC staffers and other GOP officials: ‘Please stop destroying yourselves and protect our Senate and House majorities.'” Weinstein said he will send the letter to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus next week. In 1996, the Republican party explicitly pulled support from Bob Dole’s presidential campaign to focus on down ballot races. A [TIME cover story](http://time.com/4447985/inside-donald-trump-meltdown/?xid=homepage) said Priebus told Trump he would consider shifting party funds away from the billionaire’s flagging presidential campaign. **Read the full letter below:** [Draft Letter to the RNC](https://www.scribd.com/document/320937832/Draft-Letter-to-the-RNC#from%5Fembed) by [Will Drabold](https://www.scribd.com/user/169315078/Will-Drabold#from%5Fembed) on Scribd **Read More:** [_Inside Donald Trump’s Meltdown_](http://time.com/4447985/inside-donald-trump-meltdown/?xid=homepage) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4449116/donald-trump-rnc-funding-gop/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4449116/donald-trump-rnc-funding-gop/"},"headline":"Read The Republican Letter Calling For The RNC to Cut Donald Trump's Funding","datePublished":"2016-08-11T20:17:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:44.554Z","description":"\"This is the family trying to fix itself\"","url":"https://time.com/4449116/donald-trump-rnc-funding-gop/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election","Republican National Committee"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e406858ae10be7a/6988a2108e06016bed4671e2/trump-meltdown-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Will Drabold","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/will-drabold/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e406858ae10be7a/6988a2108e06016bed4671e2/trump-meltdown-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Abingdon, Virginia","caption":"Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Abingdon, Virginia, Aug. 10, 2016.","creditText":"Eric Thayer—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4449116/donald-trump-rnc-funding-gop/","name":"Read The Republican Letter Calling For The RNC to Cut Donald Trump's Funding"}}]}] ```