The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Republican National Committee has begun redirecting resources away from the Trump presidential campaign to bolster the campaigns of down ballot candidates. The news comes as pressure is building on Trump to drop out of the race as a result of lewd comments he made about women from a 2005 interview.

So far, the RNC is standing by Trump. But Chairman Reince Priebus may be hedging his bets in case Trump decides he can no longer continue as the nominee.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Saturday told party officials to redirect funds away from nominee Donald Trump to down-ballot candidates, according to an official informed of the decision. In practical terms, the party will be working to mobilize voters who support GOP House and Senate candidates regardless of their position on the presidential race.

That means the RNC will push Floridians who support both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to vote. Before today, the RNC wouldn’t have sought to turn out Clinton voters, leaving split-ticket voters for Senate campaigns to target.

The release on Friday of a 2005 video of Mr. Trump making lewd and degrading comments about women has led to recriminations from all corners of the GOP. Mr. Trump’s comments were denounced by the party chairman, the speaker of the House, a squadron of former GOP presidential candidates and a flood of members of Congress.

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The immediate consequence of the RNC’s decision on allocating resources is a halt to the party’s mail program so it can be redirected toward a new universe of voters, the official said. News of the mail program stopping was first reported by Politico. Mr. Priebus and top party strategist Sean Spicer didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Opinion polls across the country show a growing number of voters willing to back GOP congressional candidates and Mrs. Clinton. In Ohio, where Republican Sen. Rob Portman has endorsed Mr. Trump but declined to appear with him, the senator is leading his race by 15 percentage points in public opinion polls, while the presidential battle is basically tied. The RNC could increase the number of split-ticket voters by pushing Clinton supporters who back GOP Senate candidates to the polls.

There are apparently several more of these recordings out there that Democrats will release when they will make the most impact. A former producer of Trump's TV show "The Apprentice" says there are "far worse" tapes of Trump from the show. This is not the end of Trump's problems with his past statements on women.

But Republicans who are calling on Trump to "step down" are kidding themselves. The mechanics of Trump abandoning the campaign are impossible as the RNC is demonstrating with its shift in resources. Changing focus at this late date to support down ballot candidates at the expense of Trump is going to be expensive and no one even knows if urging voters to split their ticket will work.

Depending on what happens the next week, expect the RNC to publicly support Trump while privately looking to salvage their House and Senate majorities at his expense.