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Moral Demand of Our Time Trump's Only Saving Grace?

CBN

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U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS -- As we get closer to the general election, there are still questions about Republicans standing together behind Donald Trump.

The polarizing candidate has not made it easy and the struggle for party unity even stretches to the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Still, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told CBN News he's hopeful.

"I think he will be constrained by the nature of the party that is going to back him for president," the Kentucky lawmaker said. 

Trump the Wild Card

But when the presumptive nominee criticizes fellow Republicans, like New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, the task becomes more difficult.

"She's got to do a better job. Your governor has got to do a better job," Trump said of Martinez at an Albuquerque, New Mexico, rally. 

"I think he ought to stop that," McConnell said. "I think it's a weakness. I think he'd have a much better chance of winning in November if he would quit doing that, particularly at a time when we're trying to unify the party and give us a chance to get the White House back."

The Trump turnoff factor has already led some big name Republicans to mark the convention off of their "to do" list. That includes former President George W. Bush, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and Arizona Sen. John McCain, along with other GOP senators and governors.  

Still, polls show Trump's share of the Republican vote at this point in the campaign lines up with past nominees. From 1996 through 2012, nominees Bob Dole, Bush, McCain and Romney held more than 80 percent of the GOP a month after wrapping up the nomination.

Trump's count right now: a solid 85 percent. 

When Options Are 'Awful' and 'More Awful'

Conservative radio talk show host Dennis Prager, who initially wasn't for Trump at all, sees Hillary Clinton as a far worse alternative.

"In life you don't always get a choice between wonderful and awful. You get between awful and more awful and I'll always take the awful over the more awful," Prager explained.

And for die-hard Republicans, "awful" also describes the continuous verbal slugfest between the presidential candidates.

"This man is a pathological liar," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said of Trump during the heated presidential contest. 

Party Unrest Reaches Virgin Islands

That fighting combined with the closeness of the race gave legitimacy to talk of a contested convention. While that won't happen, party infighting goes on in the remotest of places.

"In all my years in the legislature as a Virgin Islands senator, I have never seen such turmoil," said Holland Redfield, national committeeman and delegate to the Republican National Convention.

Delegates here in the U.S. Virgin islands are often an afterthought during the presidential primary. There are just six elected delegates between St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, but this time around one of the smallest Republican parties in the entire U.S. is actually living out a larger-than-life soap opera complete with utter confusion, name calling, and even violence.

Tempers got so hot at a recent meeting that guns were even at the ready. The disunity centered on John Yob.

As an unbound delegate, Yob recently moved his family down here so he could have maximum influence in any contested convention.

The local GOP chairman claimed Yob is using the Virgin Islands as a political opportunity and tried to block him from the convention.

"Frankly, I think these are actions of somebody lashing out, who's desperate and being a sore loser," Yob told CBN News. "And it's unfortunate that it's moved from being a sore loser, to trying to break the rules, to threats and intimidation, to maybe even some violence."

Local Republican Chairman John Canegata admits GOP unity here has been problematic.

"We had some long-standing relationships that were damaged overnight. If you listen to our chairman, Reince Priebus, all he talks about is unity. His quote is, 'Unity can make impossible things possible, but division will make possible things impossible,'" Canegata admitted.

Party Unity Still within Reach?

So, will it be possible for the GOP to put on a united front? Will an awkward family photo on the convention stage in Cleveland make the difference? 

CBN News asked former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich about the importance of that visual.

"I think some kind of visual is important," Gingrich said.

But he points to something more important than the visual.

"If Trump decides to focus on really big issues -- such as the jobs report where we literally only created one job for every 8,000 Americans, it was an unbelievably bad report last month -- those kind of things will make it easier to unify the Republican Party," Gingrich explained.

Trump, however, makes it harder when he goes off on tangents, like bringing up the Mexican heritage of the judge overseeing the Trump University lawsuit.

It puts leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis, in a tough spot.

"The comment about the judge just was out of left field for my mind. It's reasoning I don't relate to. I completely disagree with the thinking behind that," Ryan said at a recent press conference. 

And so it goes -- putting out fire after fire. Even with all the charred earth, many believe the GOP has no choice but to unite.  

Prager believes the moral choice isn't about backing Trump or not - it's much greater.

"We dropped two atom bombs over Japan. Why? Because the context morally demanded it and the moral demand in our time in America is the defeat of the Left," Prager rationalized. 

In the end, that may be Trump's saving grace. 

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