Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt said Wednesday that the GOP should change the party’s convention rules to drop Donald Trump from the presidential ticket.
Unless Trump significantly shifts gears in the next few weeks, Hewitt advocated that the Republican National Committee make the unprecedented move of allowing the party to handpick an alternative candidate at the convention in July.
"We’re going to get killed with this nominee," Hewitt said. "It’s like ignoring stage-four cancer. You can’t do it—you gotta go attack it."
Trump has come under criticism from Republicans and Democrats during the past week for his accusations that a Mexican-American judge presiding over a lawsuit on the now-defunct Trump University can’t be impartial because of his heritage.
Trump has repeatedly called U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel "a Mexican" and a "hater" while charging that his rulings have been unfair because of the business mogul’s proposal to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
House Speaker Paul Ryan condemned Trump’s attack Tuesday as "the textbook definition of a racist comment."
"I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It’s absolutely unacceptable," he told reporters during a press conference.
Hours later, Sen. Mark Kirk (R., Ill.) rescinded his endorsement of Trump, saying that he "cannot and will not support" him as the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee.
"It is absolutely essential that we are guided by a commander-in-chief with a responsible and proper temperament, discretion and judgment," Kirk said in a statement. "I have concluded that Donald Trump has not demonstrated the temperament necessary to assume the greatest office in the world."
Given my military experience, Donald Trump does not have the temperament to command our military or our nuclear arsenal.
— Mark Kirk (@MarkKirk) June 7, 2016
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) along with Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham ( S.C.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Ben Sasse (Neb.), and Susan Collins (Maine.) also condemned Trump’s remarks.
Public Service Announcement:
Saying someone can't do a specific job because of his or her race is the literal definition of "racism."— Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) June 6, 2016
NEW: @KellyAyotte says to @NBCNews Trump should "retract" his comments re: Judge Curiel: pic.twitter.com/v8QsSCgnN6
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 6, 2016
Trump issued a statement Tuesday night that his comments had been "misconstrued" and denied that they were racist.
"I do not feel that one’s heritage makes them incapable of being impartial," Trump said. "But, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial."
Hewitt said if the GOP moved forward with Trump at the top of the ticket after the past week he would be the party’s final nominee.
"Right now, the Republican Party is facing—the plane is headed towards the mountain after the last 72 hours," he said.