WASHINGTON — Turmoil in the Republican Party escalated Wednesday as party leaders, strategists, and donors voiced increased alarm about the flailing state of Donald Trump’s candidacy and fears that the presidential nominee was damaging the party with an extraordinary week of self-inflicted mistakes, gratuitous attacks, and missed opportunities.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was described as ‘‘very frustrated’’ with and deeply disturbed by Trump’s behavior over the past week, having run out of excuses to make on the nominee’s behalf to donors and other party leaders, according to multiple people familiar with the events.
Meanwhile, Trump’s top campaign advisers are struggling once again to instill discipline in their candidate, who has spent recent days lunging from one controversy to another while seemingly skipping chances to go on the offensive against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
‘‘A new level of panic hit the street,’’ said longtime operative Scott Reed, chief strategist for the US Chamber of Commerce. ‘‘It’s time for a serious reset.’’
Trump allies on Wednesday publicly urged the candidate to change his tactics, furious that he has allowed his confrontation with the Muslim parents of dead Army Captain Humayun Khan to continue for nearly a week. They also are angry with Trump because of his refusal in an interview with the Washington Post on Tuesday to endorse two of the GOP’s top elected officials — House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Senator John Mc-Cain of Arizona — ahead of their upcoming primary elections.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, one of Trump’s most loyal defenders, warned that his friend was in danger of throwing away the election and helping to make Clinton president.
‘‘The current race is which of these two is the more unacceptable, because right now neither of them is acceptable,’’ he said. ‘‘Trump is helping her to win by proving he is more unacceptable than she is.’’
Gingrich said Trump has only a matter of weeks to reverse course. ‘‘Anybody who is horrified by Hillary should hope that Trump will take a deep breath and learn some new skills,’’ he said. ‘‘He cannot win the presidency operating the way he is now. She can’t be bad enough to elect him if he’s determined to make this many mistakes.’’
Campaigning in Florida, Trump sought to pivot away from his problems. He addressed the controversy and speculation, saying his campaign is ‘‘doing really well’’ and has ‘‘never been this well united,’’ then focused renewed attacks on Clinton and President Obama.
But the idea that the campaign was fully united was undercut when Mike Pence, Trump’s vice presidential running mate, told Fox News Channel that he ‘‘strongly endorsed’’ Ryan in his primary campaign. Other Republicans viewed the endorsement as a sign that he is having some influence within the campaign, said a person familiar with Pence’s role.
Campaign manager Paul Manafort went on news channels earlier in the day to tamp down the rampant criticism of the GOP nominee, saying that reports of a campaign staff in crisis were incorrect. He said the campaign is ‘‘focused,’’ in ‘‘very good shape,’’ and ‘‘moving forward.’’
Throughout the day, there were also persistent reports that allies of Trump, including Priebus, Gingrich, and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, were trying to arrange a meeting with Trump to urge him to refocus his candidacy. Manafort, when asked on Fox News about such a meeting, said he knew nothing about it. ‘‘Not me,’’ Gingrich said in an e-mail when asked if he were part of an upcoming meeting.
A knowledgeable GOP strategist said, ‘‘It’s not happening,’’ then added, ‘‘It doesn’t take a genius to know that calling Donald Trump and yelling at him is never going to work.’’
At past moments of crisis in the campaign, Trump’s children have played an influential role, and there was some hope within the party that they could again provide help. Bloomberg Politics reported Wednesday afternoon, however, that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump had left for a hunting trip outside the country.
From Washington to state capitals nationwide, a feeling of despondence fell over the Republican establishment.
Trump suffered two more defections Wednesday when Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, an Iraq War veteran, said on CNN he is unlikely to vote for Trump because the nominee was ‘‘beginning to cross a lot of red lines of the unforgivable in politics.’’
Former Montana governor Marc Racicot, a former RNC chairman and a close associate of former president George W. Bush, also said he won’t vote for Trump.
