Are Republican politicians going to desert Trump en masse? Probably not. They might lower the temperature of their references to him even more, but I doubt they’re going to rescind their endorsements. Some of them might have hoped, delusionally, that Trump would turn out to be a much better candidate (and person) than we had ever been given any reason to expect; and maybe some of those delusions have finally been dispelled. Most of them, though, were moved by reasons that remain in place. He’s still the candidate who won the primaries; it’s still the case that he has the strong support of a lot of Republicans; it’s still true that many Republicans would (with some justification) consider a coup against him illegitimate; the prospect of a mid-election change still poses the risk of a bigger political disaster in November than the one Trump as the nominee might yield. That last consideration has, in fact, grown in force.
And if Republican politicians did abandon Trump, could they get him to drop out? That also seems unlikely. He won the nomination when most Republican politicians didn’t think he could, and when more of them were backing his rivals than backing him. He hasn’t taken their advice before. And the prospect of a big loss that inflicts collateral damage on Republicans is not going to cost him any sleep–he doesn’t care about the party or conservatism (and, to his limited credit, has barely faked doing so). Perhaps he’ll drop out if he comes to believe that he will lose in a personally humiliating fashion. But the various reports of Republican “panic,” etc., don’t seem to me to amount to much beyond a dawning recognition of flaws the candidate long ago evinced.
Trump Isn't Going Anywhere