Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2016, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press) 
 
 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Republicans' frustration with Donald Trump has reached new heights, with party leaders scrambling to persuade their presidential nominee to abandon divisive tactics that have triggered sinking poll numbers and low morale. 
 
 Party chairman Reince Priebus is appealing to the New York billionaire's adult children to help amid new signs of a campaign in trouble. 
 
 Trump's operation has been beset by internal discord, including growing concern about general election preparedness and a lack of support from Republican leaders, according to two people familiar with the organization's inner workings. 
 
 One of the people said Trump privately blames his own staff for failing to quiet the backlash from his own party after he criticized an American Muslim family whose son, a U.S. Army captain, was killed in Iraq. 
 
 The inner tension comes as Priebus and handful of high-profile Trump allies consider whether to confront the candidate directly to encourage a new approach following a series of startling stances and statements. In the midst of the uproar over his continued criticism of the Khan family, Trump infuriated Priebus and other party leaders by refusing to endorse GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan's re-election. 
 
 The officials, including one with direct knowledge of Priebus' thinking, were granted anonymity to discuss internal strategy because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive issuer publicly. This came after one of the most tumultuous weeks of Trump's presidential campaign. 
 
 Trump on Wednesday dismissed suggestions that the GOP frustration was hurting his campaign, even as he openly contemplated an Election Day loss. 
 
 "Wouldn't that be embarrassing to lose to crooked Hillary Clinton? That would be terrible," he said during a campaign stop in battleground Florida. He also insisted, "We've never been this united." 
 
 In an interview later Wednesday with Florida's WPEC-TV, Trump was asked if he was being "baited into battles." 
 
 "I think that's probably right," he acknowledged. "We're going to focus more on Hillary Clinton." 
 
 The most powerful Republicans in Washington and New York's Trump Tower concede things will not change unless Trump wants them to. 
 
 "The candidate is in control of his campaign," campaign chairman Paul Manafort told Fox News Channel, highlighting his inability to control the nominee. "And I'm in control of doing the things that he wants me to do in the campaign." 
 
 Clinton, meanwhile, kept up her assault on Trump's business practices, holding up a Trump-branded tie as she spoke at the Knotty Tie Company in battleground Colorado. 
 
 "I really would like him to explain why he paid Chinese workers to make Trump ties," she told employees in Denver, "instead of deciding to make those ties right here in Colorado." 
 
 Trump blamed the media — "so dishonest" — for growing criticism of his recent statements and his unwillingness to accept guidance from senior advisers. 
 
 Privately, however, Trump has concerns about his own team. 
 
 He was deeply upset when GOP leaders "took the other side" during his ongoing quarrel with the Khan family, one person said, and blames his campaign staff for not keeping top Republicans in line. Another person said Trump is irritated that general election planning in battleground states isn't further along with less than 100 days until Election Day. 
 
 The internal tension is complicated by Trump's frequent travels without his senior advisers and his adult children, who wield significant influence in the campaign, the people close to the campaign said. 
 
 "I would say in the last couple of weeks, he has been remarkably underperforming and we'll see whether or not he can take a deep breath and learn these lessons," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Fox Business News. 
 
 Trump stunned Republicans by telling The Washington Post in an interview Tuesday that he wasn't ready to endorse Ryan, who faces a primary contest in Wisconsin next week. Ryan has backed Trump despite deep differences on policy and temperament, and has encouraged other Republicans to unite behind the party's nominee. 
 
 Former Trump adviser Barry Bennett acknowledged signs of poor morale among the campaign staff he maintains contact with, but he also said it would be silly to dismiss Trump's chances with three months before Election Day. 
 
 "This would be the end of any other Republican candidate in the history of the country. And he's only 5 or 6 points behind," Bennett said. 
 
 Indeed, Trump on Wednesday reported raising $80 million in July for his campaign and the Republican Party, a significant improvement from past months. Clinton raised about $90 million over the same period. 
 
 Privately, Trump points to his recent fundraising success, large rallies and decent polling against a seasoned candidate as evidence that his campaign is working well. 
 
 And his loyalists continue to stand behind him. 
 
 "The media is blowing this out of proportion significantly," said New Hampshire Rep. Stephen Stepanek. 
 
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 What political news is the world searching for on Google and talking about on Twitter? Find out via AP's Election Buzz interactive. http://elections.ap.org/buzz 
 
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 Peoples reported from Washington. AP writers Julie Pace and Julie Bycowicz in Washington and Jill Colvin in New Jersey contributed to this report. Follow Steve Peoples and Jonathan Lemire on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/sppeoples and http://twitter.com/JonLemire ||||| Republican officials are jumping ship from the turbulent Donald Trump campaign in unprecedented numbers, political experts say, as the party's unhinged nominee pivots from one outlandish point to the next — but the mogul will likely make it through choppy waters through Nov. 8 unless GOP leaders like Paul Ryan swim for shore, too. 
 
 More than 200 current and former Republican elected and administration officials, as well as figures from the party apparatus and the conservative media, have said in recent weeks that they simply cannot support Trump, citing his increasingly erratic statements, his lack of policy specifics and his recklessness on the international stage, with many of them saying they'd vote for Hillary Clinton instead. 
 
 On Sunday, just days after upward of 70 Republicans signed an open letter to party boss Reince Priebus urging him to not spend any cash on Trump's bid, senior officials at the Republican National Committee reportedly began discussing cutting all support to Trump, according to Politico. 
 
 While a lawmaker or two has occasionally cast his ballot for the opposite party's presidential nominee — in 2004, then-Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) supported George W. Bush's reelection campaign — the extraordinary number of GOP turncoats in the current cycle is not only "unusual," according to politics watchers, but "unprecedented." 
 
 Trump used another Star of David meme while campaigning 
 
 Donald Trump's reckless behavior has Republicans running for the hills. (Evan Vucci/AP) 
 
 "You can feel his sense of legitimacy dribbling away with each pained withdrawal of support," David Birdsell, dean of the Public Affairs School at Baruch College, told the Daily News about the ongoing defections from Trump, adding that he'd "never seen anything like it." 
 
 By any account, Trump's last few weeks have been disastrous. Since the end of the Republican National Convention last month, the businessman has insulted Gold Star parents, encouraged Russian hackers to find Hillary Clinton's deleted emails and proposed that the U.S. not uphold its NATO obligations. He topped the staggering stretch off by, just this past week, suggesting Second Amendment supporters turn their weapons on Clinton as a way to prevent her from nominating her preferred judges if elected. 
 
 Trump campaign chairman said Sunday that the mogul’s team is “very strong�? and “moving forward�? despite the fact that, amid the nominee’s constant missteps, his polls numbers have fallen nationally and in swing states and a trickle of defections turned into a flood. 
 
 While unprecedented numbers of GOP are defecting, it would take losing support from a Republican heavyweight like Paul Ryan for Donald Trump's presidential bid to sink. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) 
 
 As of this weekend, at least 21 current Republican office-holders, 22 former GOP office-holders, 43 GOP Republican National Committee officials and prominent non-officer holders and 54 national security officials from prior Republican administrations had all publicly said they would not vote for Trump. 
 
 Trump’s cleanup man Pence denies being Trump’s cleanup man 
 
 Even the donor and media classes have gotten in on the action, with dozens of notably conservative commentators and traditionally right-leaning fund-raisers having saying "enough is enough." 
 
 Donors who gave at least $200 to former Republican candidates like Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Chris Christie, have — since the general election began in earnest in June — given $2.2 million to Clinton, compared with only $1.6 million for Trump, a recent New York Times analysis of FEC filings found. 
 
 More and more Republicans have said they'll back Hillary Clinton instead of The Donald. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images) 
 
 Countless other lawmakers, like Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Kasich, have consistently signaled their frustration with Trump but have held off on saying definitively they wouldn't vote for him. 
 
 While party desertion may have not ever occurred on such a large scale ever before, experts say that it could still take the defection of a major Republican heavyweight — such as Ryan, the highest-elected Republican in the land, or even Trump's running mate Mike Pence — to truly put a dagger in Trump's bid. 
 
 Trump: I'd be up by 20% on Hillary if not for 'disgusting' media 
 
 But such a possibility remains remote. 
 
 "It's very unlikely Pence would disavow his running mate," David Caputo, president emeritus and professor of Political Science at Pace University, told The News. 
 
 "Ryan still could, but it would take a lot more to do so," he said. "And given that he didn't after Trump's Second Amendment snafu, I'm not sure what it would actually take." 
 
 Ironically, Caputo added, there is an off-chance that a mass Republican migration to Clinton — so far, only a handful have said openly they'll vote for the Democratic nominee — could actually hurt the former secretary of state. 
 
 Clinton leading Trump in key swing states of N.H., Fla. 
 
 Up to 70 Republicans have urged party honcho Reince Priebus not to spend cash on Trump's campaign. (Matt Rourke/AP) 
 
 "Her campaign must be careful," he said. "Active support of Republican voters may raise issues with progressives and former Sanders supporters," Caputo added, before hinting that an unforeseen event — perhaps a terror attack, a stock market plunge or, unlikely as it is, a Trump exit from the race — could still further shake up voters' allegiances. 
 
 "Will something happen between now and Nov. 8 for those Republican voters to abandon Clinton for third party candidates, or to not vote or to even go back to the Republican Party?" he suggested. 
 
 "The only thing we really know about this race is that it's unconventional," Caputo added. "So expect the unexpected." ||||| The Republican National Committee is categorically denying reports that party officials are looking into how to replace Donald Trump Donald John TrumpEx-White House counsel interviewed Whitaker about joining Trump's legal team: report Flake slams Trump for doubting Arizona vote count: No evidence of 'electoral corruption' Comey talked about sensitive FBI matters on personal email: report MORE in case he drops out of the presidential race before Election Day. 
 
 No one at national party headquarters has been instructed to look into that doomsday scenario, RNC strategist Sean Spicer said, and speculation that the RNC might pressure Trump to drop out of the race is unfounded. 
 
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 Spicer insisted that there is no chance that anyone else will be the ballot in November. 
 
 “Donald Trump is the nominee of the Republican Party full-stop,” Spicer told The Hill. “That’s the reality. The rest is just a media-pundit concoction.” 
 
 The Trump campaign is also dismissing reports of turmoil in the campaign and the Republican Party as a media creation. 
 
 Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort noted in a Fox News interview that Team Trump raised $80 million in July, its best haul yet, and said that the campaign is furiously expanding in key battleground states. 
 
 
 
 He shot down a report that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and other Trump allies were planning an “intervention” for the candidate to get him back on track. 
 
 “The only need we have for an intervention is maybe with some media types who keep saying things that aren’t true,” Manafort said. 
 
 Still, party leaders are working furiously to get Trump back on message after a disastrous stretch in which he has veered wildly off course and renewed fears among Republicans that he will lead them to electoral disaster in the fall. 
 
 
 
 One party source told The Hill that Priebus is “furious” with Trump for spending the last few days publicly feuding with the Muslim parents of a slain U.S. soldier and for declining to endorse Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanPelosi: Gun control ‘will be a priority’ in next House On The Money: Waters will soon wield gavel in feud with White House | McHenry announces bid for Financial Services ranking member | Fed keeps rates steady in November Congressional panel scales back bipartisan budget reform proposal MORE's (R-Wis.) reelection bid. 
 
 
 
 Priebus is close friends with Ryan, a fellow Wisconsin native, and their supporters believe both men have stuck their necks out for Trump only to have him turn around and humiliate them. 
 
 
 
 Priebus has communicated his anger to Manafort and other campaign officials, pushing for Trump to turn his fire on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonComey talked about sensitive FBI matters on personal email: report Pipe bomb suspect indicted on charges of using weapons of mass destruction With Matthew Whitaker playing Roy Cohn, DOJ could be Trump’s personal law firm MORE, rather than GOP leaders. 
 
 
 
 Those closest to Trump are leaning on him to do the same. 
 
 
 
 A source close to the campaign told The Hill that Manafort and Trump’s adult children, who together make up his most influential team of advisers, are “distraught” over the billionaire's detour into chaos over the last week. 
 
 Manafort and Trump's children are privately urging the candidate to drop his attacks against the Khan family, to stop picking fights with GOP leaders and Republicans up for reelection, and to return to the message that helped him win the GOP primary, the source said. 
 
 
 
 “The last week he would not drop this thing with the Khans and he would not get back on message,” a source close to the campaign said. 
 
 
 
 “They're all working on him,” the source added. “He'll say ‘yes’, but then he'll go out and get provoked or start talking stream of consciousness ... they're hopeful, Paul's hopeful and the family's hopeful that they'll get him back on track and that's about all I can tell you.” 
 
 Neither Manafort nor a spokeswoman for Trump's children responded to requests for comment. 
 
 The Trump campaign and the RNC were in crisis mode on Wednesday as they worked to beat back a host of media reports about campaign turmoil and the possibility that Trump is eyeing an exit route. 
 
 Trump’s campaign has been embroiled in controversy for the last week as he publicly feuded with Khizr Khan, the father of a U.S. solider who died in Iraq, for criticizing him on stage at the Democratic National Convention. 
 
 
 
 Trump’s top allies — Ben Carson, Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie, among them — have admonished Trump for criticizing the Gold Star family or have been critical of him for being too easily distracted. 
 
 
 
 “The question is can he … slow down, take a deep breath and reorganize how he’s operating so that he can get to the standard of running for president,” Gingrich (R-Ga.), a former House Speaker, said Wednesday on CNBC. “He’s not done that up to now … which has been very disheartening to his supporters.” 
 
 
 
 Republicans and Democrats have lined up to rebuke Trump for engaging in the political fight with the Khans, which has given new fodder to critics who say the GOP nominee is erratic and unfit for office. 
 
 
 
 President Obama made that case from the White House on Tuesday, citing the Khan controversy, and Democrats up and down the ballot are putting the heat on GOP leaders and Republicans up for election to cut ties with Trump. 
 
 
 
 Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) on Tuesday cited Trump’s feud with the Khans when he became the first GOP member of Congress to announce he’d vote for Clinton. 
 
 Several other high-profile Republican figures have also announced this week that they’re leaving the party in this election, including billionaire businesswoman Meg Whitman, who has pledged to raise money for Clinton. 
 
 Trump exacerbated his problem with skeptical Republicans in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday in which he declined to endorse Ryan, who has been critical of the GOP nominee on occasion but is supporting his presidential bid. 
 
 
 
 Even Trump’s top allies on Capitol Hill were confounded as to why he had picked a fight with Ryan, who faces a primary challenge next week. 
 
 
 
 “I think that Trump needs to have a bigger tent and a bigger heart,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a Trump supporter. “He’s the GOP nominee now and has to be more forgiving, has to be the bigger man in these cases.” 
 
 
 
 Trump’s twin controversies have dominated headlines for days, frustrating his allies and giving new ammunition to his critics. 
 
 
 
 Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence Michael (Mike) Richard PenceHow President Trump won last night Trump asks Pence during press conference to be on 2020 ticket Facebook delays political ad transparency requirements in UK MORE, has had to sweep up Trump’s messes on both occasions. 
 
 
 
 Pence released a statement over the weekend calling the late Capt. Humayun Khan a “hero” and saying that his family should be “cherished.” 
 
 
 
 On Wednesday, Pence announced that he “strongly” supports Ryan for reelection. ||||| Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Sunday that if the never-Trump movement disrupts proceedings at the GOP convention, it will just help the presumptive Democratic nominee. 
 
 "If [they] want to delay the proceedings, all they’re doing is delaying the evening and helping Hillary Clinton," Priebus said on ABC's "This Week." 
 
 "I’m not going to just shut people down," he said of delegates who may try blocking Donald Trump's nomination at the convention. "But I’m also going to make sure that our rules are followed. And I don’t think they’re going to be successful." 
 
 The party chairman said that never-Trump delegates need to recognize that voters have made their choice. 
 
 "They don’t like the idea that 14 million people ... picked someone that they didn’t want," Priebus said. 
 
 He said that opposing Trump now amounts to support for Clinton. 
 
 "It’s a binary choice," Priebus said. "It’s Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton." 
 
 The RNC head told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that back in 2014 when Cleveland was picked to host the party convention, he hadn't expected Trump would be the nominee. But, he said, Trump “gives us a great opportunity to win.” 
 
 A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Trump has all but closed the gap with Democratic rival Clinton, from her 12-point advantage in mid-June to a 4-point gap now. 
 
 Yet, just one day before the GOP convention kicks off, 60 percent of Americans say the presumptive Republican nominee is unqualified to be president. 
 
 Priebus dismissed that unfavorable poll number, saying, “Reagan had the same problem in 1979 going into 1980, and I think what it does show in reality is that [Trump] has a lot of space to grow." 
 
 He said if Trump can bring down that number of people who consider him unqualified, he will "easily" be elected president. 
 
 "He’s likable," the party chairman said. "He’s interesting to people, he’s intriguing." 
 
 Priebus also noted that Trump's choice of running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, was a "mature pick" who will help the Republican ticket. 
 
 Even with Pence's help though Priebus said the convention will be a key moment in Trump's campaign. 
 
 "Thursday night’s a critical night for him, delivering a great speech, the balloon drop, the people in this country saying, 'I can see Donald Trump being in the White House. I think he’s presidential,'" he said. ||||| Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves after speaking to the National Association of Home Builders, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press) 
 
 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves after speaking to the National Association of Home Builders, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press) 
 
 ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — In a rare show of humility by the boastful billionaire, Donald Trump is acknowledging that his presidential campaign faces challenges and could ultimately fall short. 
 
 The Republican presidential nominee is straying from his signature bravado as he campaigns in the battleground state of Florida, even telling a gathering of evangelical ministers Thursday he's "having a tremendous problem in Utah." The same day, the reality show star acknowledged that his lack of political correctness could cost him the election if Americans reject his blunt approach. 
 
 "We're having a problem," Trump told the ministers, adding that the next president could get to nominate up to five high-court justices. "It could cost us the Supreme Court." 
 
 Trump's campaign planned to sit down with RNC officials in Orlando on Friday. But both Republican Party officials and Trump's campaign said the meeting was focused on Florida campaign operations and not tensions between the campaign and the GOP. The officials weren't authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. 
 
 After trouncing 16 challengers in the Republican primary, Trump is encountering worrying signs as his campaign moves into the general election. Democrat Hillary Clinton's lead over Trump in national polls has widened in recent days, while a growing number of fellow Republicans have declared they won't support their own party's nominee. 
 
 Trump's exercise in self-awareness is a marked departure from his usual tenor on the campaign trail, where for months at rallies he would tick through poll numbers showing him winning as if they were sports scores of his favorite team. 
 
 "We're going to win so big," Trump told a roaring crowd one month ago at the Republican National Convention. 
 
 Yet on Thursday, Trump was reduced to citing a poll that actually showed him a few points behind Clinton and arguing the race between them was close. Asked how he planned to reverse Clinton's advantage, Trump said he simply planned to do "the same thing I'm doing right now." 
 
 "At the end, it's either going to work, or I'm going to, you know, I'm going to have a very, very nice, long vacation," Trump told CNBC. 
 
 Even while working to restore confidence in his campaign, Trump appeared to court controversy anew when he said late Thursday that he was open to trying Americans suspected of terrorism at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. Asked specifically about U.S. citizens, Trump said he didn't like that President Barack Obama and others wanted to try them in traditional courts rather than military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. 
 
 "I would say they could be tried there," Trump said. "That'll be fine." 
 
 In Utah, typically a reliably Republican state, Trump's challenges have been particularly striking. The state's large Mormon population has voiced serious skepticism about Trump, though the state's GOP governor has endorsed him. 
 
 "We've really been given a false narrative," Trump said of his struggles in Utah. 
 
 Yet in other traditionally GOP-leaning states, like Arizona and Georgia, Republicans are concerned Trump's unpopularity could give Democrats an improbable victory. Those concerns are compelling enough that dozens of worried Republicans gathered signatures Thursday for a letter urging the GOP chairman to stop helping Trump and focus on protecting vulnerable House and Senate candidates. 
 
 Trump said he wasn't worried Republicans would cut him off — and threatened to stop fundraising for the party if they do. 
 
 The billionaire real estate mogul's unusually candid reflections about the uncertainty of his electoral prospects come as he's struggling to keep the focus on his opponent — Clinton — and avoid distractions. 
 
 Earlier this week he caused a major stir with comments about the Second Amendment that were perceived as advocating violence against Clinton, then faced questions yet again after declaring Wednesday that President Barack Obama was the "founder" of the Islamic State group — a patently false claim. 
 
 It's comments like those that Clinton has seized to try to contrast her "serious, steady leadership" with the more volatile approach she says Trump would take to running the country. 
 
 "I just do not think insults and bullying is how we are to get things done," Clinton said as she laid out her economic plan Thursday in Warren, Michigan. 
 
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 What political news is the world searching for on Google and talking about on Twitter? Find out via AP's Election Buzz interactive. http://elections.ap.org/buzz 
 
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 Associated Press writers Steve Peoples in Washington; Catherine Lucey in Warren, Michigan; and Jill Colvin in New Jersey contributed to this report. 
 
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 Follow Josh Lederman on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP ||||| Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, center, accompanied by Campaign Manager Robby Mook, left, and traveling press secretary Nick Merrill, right, smiles as she speaks with members of the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, center, accompanied by Campaign Manager Robby Mook, left, and traveling press secretary Nick Merrill, right, smiles as she speaks with members of the media aboard her campaign plane at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Oct. 19,... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on 2016 presidential race (all times EDT): 
 
 11:45 a.m. 
 
 Tim Kaine has a new picture to hang up at the Naval Observatory if he and Hillary Clinton win on Election Day. 
 
 Pastor Marshall Mitchell of Salem Baptist Church of Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, gave Kaine a picture of Martin Luther King Jr. 
 
 In the picture, King is speaking from the same pulpit that Kaine used to address the congregation Sunday. Mitchell said he had taken the picture off his wall and wanted Kaine to hang it up at the Naval Observatory, the vice president's official residence. 
 
 Kaine appeared visibly touched by the gift. The Democratic vice presidential nominee, a Catholic, urged the congregation to vote and spoke about Clinton's long-held Christian faith. 
 
 The African-American church outside Philadelphia has previously hosted several civil rights leaders. 
 
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 10:45 a.m. 
 
 The head of the Republican Party says all Republicans should support nominee Donald Trump. 
 
 Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus says he expects Trump will win the election. He's pushing back on criticism of Trump for saying he might not accept the election's results. Priebus says Trump is referring to narrow scenarios in which only a few hundred votes separate the candidates. 
 
 Priebus also tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that voter fraud is not "some figment of people's imagination." He says Trump merely wants his supporters to "watch out for voter fraud that might occur." 
 
 Priebus is also predicting that Trump will do better in African American communities than Republicans did in the previous two presidential elections. 
 
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 9:45 a.m. 
 
 Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer says Donald Trump is being "waterboarded" by his female accusers. 
 
 Brewer is a Trump supporter. She's lamenting the "oppression of Donald Trump from all of these women" accusing him of inappropriate sexual conduct. 
 
 Brewer says Trump is authentic and "tells it like it is." She's defending his decision to impugn the women during a policy speech on Saturday in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 
 
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 9:40 a.m. 
 
 The campaign managers of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are agreeing on something: The 2016 election will be a fight until the bitter end. 
 
 Trump aide Kellyanne Conway tells "Fox News Sunday" that she's counting on swing voters to carry key battleground states, adding that "we're not giving up. We know we can win this." 
 
 Meanwhile, Robby Mook suggested the Clinton campaign won't stop at just the needed 270 electoral votes. While 270 is still the goal, he said, Clinton is expanding her map because traditionally red states like Arizona are now in play. He said: "We're not running away with this. This race is going to be competitive up until the end." 
 
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 9:30 a.m. 
 
 Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook says it's "unacceptable" for anyone in either party to incite violence as part of a political campaign. 
 
 Mook is referring to secretly recorded video footage released by conservative activist James O'Keefe. It shows a Democratic activist bragging about deploying troublemakers at rallies held by Donald Trump. 
 
 Mook tells CNN's "State of the Union" that the activists in the video "never had a relationship with the Clinton campaign." He says they didn't have a contract with the Democratic National Committee until months after the video was purportedly recorded. 
 
 Mook says the video is edited and that the full context is unclear. He's calling it an attempt by Trump to "distract from the real issues of this campaign."
– Donald Trump is the GOP nominee for president and there will be no refunds or exchanges, the Republican National Committee insisted Wednesday amid rumors that Trump's missteps had panicked it so badly it was looking at options for a replacement and planning to pressure him to drop out. "Donald Trump is the nominee of the Republican Party full-stop," RNC strategist Sean Spicer tells the Hill. "That's the reality. The rest is just a media-pundit concoction." A roundup of coverage: Despite talk of internal turmoil—and his running mate's endorsement of Paul Ryan—Trump told a rally in Daytona Beach, Fla., Wednesday that the campaign is "doing really well" and has "never been so well united," the BBC reports. CNN reports that for the first 11 minutes of the Daytona Beach rally, Trump stayed on-message in a way that would have pleased top GOP officials, slamming Hillary Clinton and President Obama over a $400 million payment to Iran. The next 40 minutes, however, were a more familiar mix of attacks on a wide variety of targets, including Megyn Kelly. But despite the public talk of unity, sources tell the Washington Post that RNC chief Reince Priebus is "disturbed" and "frustrated" by Trump's recent behavior, particularly the feud with the Khan family, and is seeking a campaign reboot. The Trump campaign has firmly denied rumors that Priebus and Trump allies, including Newt Gingrich, are planning an "intervention" to get him back on track. Sources tell the AP that Priebus is so concerned by the way Trump is splitting the party that he's trying to enlist Trump's children to help. At a second Florida rally on Wednesday, Trump boasted about huge turnout at his rallies and told the Jacksonville crowd he doubted Clinton could get a crowd of 500, Politico reports. "I hear we're leading Florida by a bit," he said. "I don't know why we're not leading by a lot. Maybe crowds don't make the difference." According to a Fox News poll released Wednesday, Clinton is up 5 points from a month ago and now leads Trump by 10 points nationwide, 49% to 39%. Some 61% of voters consider her untrustworthy, while 62% feel the same way about Trump.