Has Donald Trump finally gone too far for the Republican establishment?

Trump — who was seemingly tied with Hillary Clinton going into the first presidential debate — has pressed the self-destruct button on his campaign.

From the New York Times obtaining Trump’s controversial 1995 income tax returns a few weeks ago, to the video released by the Washington Post earlier this week of him degrading women, Trump’s campaign is in a downward spiral only weeks away from election day.

Figures from the GOP such as Ted Cruz, Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain are distancing themselves from his campaign, even as many of them were reluctant to endorse him in the beginning. Why are Republicans just now un-endorsing Trump?

This is not alright.

Trump has continuously made misogynistic comments throughout his campaign, and even went so far as to attack Muslim gold star parents, but is only now losing supporters. There’s a limit to when you don’t have to be “politically correct,” and it shouldn’t be an excuse to discredit other races and religions.

There were so many chances during the Republican primaries where members of the GOP could have left Trump’s campaign in the dust. Instead, we would’ve been left with Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio, both politicians with the professionalism and experience that Trump lacks.

For a party that’s proud of its character and traditional values, Trump is proving to be remarkably poor fit. He racially profiled applicants when he was leasing apartments in the 1970s and 1980s, dodged taxes in the 1990s  (for which he’s praised himself as “brilliant” for doing), and called out Sen. John McCain for being a prisoner of war. This man does not have the moral character fit for the highest office in this nation.

Amidst his suddenly failing campaign, the Republican Party appears to be more split than ever because GOP governors and leaders cannot make up their minds on whether they want to denounce Trump.

There’s a full list of Republican governors, U.S senators and U.S. representatives, compiled by the statistics website FiveThirtyEight, who have announced that they are not supporting Trump, but many have only done so just recently.

So, Trump probably won’t be elected into office. This election should serves as an example of why the Republicans complaining about Trump should have done their research on him during the primaries.

When we elect a president, we choose them to represent our nation internationally, and other foreign leaders will not take Trump as seriously as previous presidents because of all the derogatory comments he’s made throughout the years.

We need a well-respected leader. Despite the email scandal and how she handled Benghazi, Hillary Clinton is the only candidate that stands out between the final two.

K.J. is a freshman in DGS.

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