Some Republican leaders think Trump is bad for the party’s future — and secretly want him to lose

Some Republicans are secretly rooting for Donald Trump to lose the election in November for the sake of their party, according to reports.

Some of the GOP – including long-standing members who are publicly enthusiastic about a second Trump presidency – are secretly hoping the White House will go to his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, according to Politico.

Last week, conservative commentator Erick Erickson said on X that many Republicans are rooting for a Harris presidency with a GOP-controlled Senate in order to save their party.

“The damage Trump is doing to himself is playing out in private conversations like this: ‘We have a really good shot at taking the Senate,’” Erickson wrote on X.

“‘[Senator Joe] Manchin leaving gets us to 50. [Senator Jon] Tester is toast. That’s 51. Between that and the Supreme Court, we can hold off Harris for two years and get more reinforcements then fight in 2028 for the White House. If Trump gets in, we set back the pro-life cause and free markets by a generation at least.’”

Independent Senator Joe Manchin is retiring at the end of his term and Democratic Senator Jon Tester is fighting a close race against Republican Tim Sheehy in Montana.

The Never-Trump movement, made up of Republicans who have publicly disavowed the former president, is nothing new. The movement includes The Lincoln Project, an organization of Republicans dedicated to keeping Trump out of the White House, and Republican Voters Against Trump.

Politico columnist Jonathan Martin also argued that the fate of the Republican party could depend on Trump losing this November.

“The best possible outcome in November for the future of the Republican Party is for former President Donald Trump to lose and lose soundly,” Martin wrote. “GOP leaders won’t tell you that on the record. I just did.”

Martin said many Republicans are looking to accelerate Trump’s exit from politics.

“One high-level Republican, conceding it may only be ‘wishful thinking,’ even floated the idea of a Harris victory followed by Biden pardons of both his son, Hunter, and Trump,” Martin wrote. “That would take the issue of both cases off Harris’ plate and, more to the point, drain the energy behind Trump’s persecution complex so that Republicans can get on with the business of winning elections.”

Meanwhile, anti-Trump Republicans are spending big to keep the former president down in the polls. Republicans Voters Against Trump spent millions to air 30-second attack ads in key swing states last week. The ads featured testimonials from Republicans who say they’re voting for Kamala Harris.

John Conway, director of strategy for the group, called Trump “a threat to democracy” who “promises to do even more damage to our system if he is returned to power.”

“That’s why we’re reminding voters of how high the stakes are this election. And we’re doing it by spotlighting the voices of the most credible, trusted messengers available: real former Trump voters who refuse to support him again,” he said.

The group is also financing a series of billboards that feature the same anti-Trump testimonials.

Harris is currently ahead of Trump by 3.1 points, according to the latest average of national polls.

A CNN poll, released September 4, found that Harris leads Trump in four battlegrounds states: Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Nevada. Trump leads in Arizona, while the two are tied in Pennsylvania.