Top Michigan Republicans not entirely in Trump's corner

(AP) — Donald Trump's inflammatory style is leading high-ranking Michigan Republican officeholders and candidates to take a hands-off approach to their presidential nominee with fewer than three months until Election Day.

Endorse him and be accused of condoning rhetoric that the celebrity businessman's detractors say makes him unfit — his criticism of Muslim parents whose son died serving in Iraq, an off-script suggestion that Second Amendment supporters could maybe "stop" Hillary Clinton from appointing anti-gun justices to the Supreme Court if she becomes president and his claim that President Barack Obama is the "founder" of the Islamic State group.

Gov. Rick Snyder, who cannot run for a third term because of term limits, has decided not to endorse Trump four years after the governor rallied with GOP nominee Mitt Romney in Michigan.

Trump's exaggerated claims, however, are overshadowing issues that his campaign could possibly capitalize on — such as sluggish economic growth and newly released emails that show her interactions with lobbyists, political and Clinton Foundation donors and business interests as secretary of state.

The former U.S. senator and first lady's lead over Trump has widened in national polls, alarming Republicans and buoying Democrats in a state where a Republican has not won the presidential race in 28 years.

Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon said Democrats' bid to take control of the GOP-led state House this fall could be helped by Trump's continuing display of reckless behavior. ....

Democrats, for instance, already have called on retired Marine Lt. Gen. Jack Bergman, the surprise winner of the open 1st Congressional District Republican primary in northern Michigan, to repudiate Trump for tangling with the Gold Star family.