On Thursday cracks were appearing up and down the party’s embattled superstructure. Next month, the Republican Jewish Coalition, a group of powerful GOP donors, will gather at the Venetian Hotel and Resort, which is owned by Republican benefactor and RJC board member Sheldon Adelson, for their annual spring meeting. Attendees are likely to vent their disgust with Trump, who has been slow to disavow support by white supremacist groups. And at the meeting, according to two sources familiar with its planning, the RJC is expected to take up a pressing question: whether to even support Trump if he’s the GOP nominee.

Other strategists tasked with running congressional and gubernatorial races are deep into discussion about what impact a Trump nomination would have on contests up and down the ballot. Some outside groups have already begun polling the question.

Several senior Republicans told POLITICO that many Republican candidates would be forced to run against Trump, especially those running for non-federal offices such as governor. For House and Senate candidates, however, the task will be far more difficult, a problem Speaker Paul Ryan – Romney’s 2012 running mate – and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are known to be grappling with.

GOP legislative candidates would have to walk a shaky tightrope – embracing some of the populist positions that have made Trump popular, while distancing themselves from his flip-flops and most outrageous pronouncements. Trying to run away from Trump entirely, some top party strategists argue, won’t work.