George Will leaves the GOP over Trump

WASHINGTON – Conservative columnist George Will has left the Republican Party, and he is urging others to make sure the GOP’s presumptive nominee, Donald Trump, doesn’t win.

“Make sure he loses,’’ Will told PJ Media, an online news company, in an interview Friday. “Grit their teeth for four years and win the White House.”

Will, a long-time columnist and commentator, spoke Friday at the Federalist Society luncheon. “This is not my party,’’ he said during the speech.

According to PJ Media, Will said he has changed his GOP registration in Maryland to “unaffiliated.’’

Will, a Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist, has long been critical of Trump. The Washington Post columnist warned in a column in April that Trump’s damage to the party had only just begun.

Trump, he said, would be the “most unpopular nominee ever’’ and unable to get support from women, minorities and young voters.

In a column earlier this week, Will urged Republican donors not to contribute to Trump's campaign.

Trump, in turn, called Will a “major loser’’ last month on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Trump struggles for support from GOP leaders

Will is part of the #nevertrump effort.

Contact Deborah Barfield Berry at dberry@gannett.com. Twitter: @dberrygannett