Talking Points: Trump & The Future Of The Republican Party

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The continued protests and efforts by some Republican leaders to block Donald Trump from winning the nomination has divided the party across the country and here in Minnesota.

The question is: Will they support and vote for Trump if he becomes the nominee?

Some prominent members of the party say they won't support the billionaire candidate. One of them is former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman.

He's called Trump "a bigot, a misogynist, a fraud, and a bully."

Still, other party leaders have tried to play down the divide.

Chris Fields, the deputy chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, said on WCCO Sunday Morning that some of the hostility against Trump is because he's knocked other candidates out of the race.

"We had 17 candidates in the race, 14 of them are not in the race anymore," he said. "They had loyal supporters and those supporters are going through their five stages of grief."

Fields added that at the end of the nomination process, he believes, the party will come together.

Meanwhile, some Republican leaders are expressing concern in private that having Trump as the nominee could also alienate mainstream Republicans, which might have an impact on state and local races.

However, other mainstream Republicans, including Reps. John Kline, Erik Paulsen and Tom Emmer, have said if Trump becomes the nominee they will support him.