The Republican National Committee has dropped the National Review as a co-sponsor of the Feb. 25 GOP presidential debate in Houston after the magazine declared itself against the front-runner.
In the conservative magazine's latest issue, a cover story attributed to the editors is headlined "Against Trump" and calls the Republican front-runner an "unmoored political opportunist" who would "trash" the "broad conservative ideological consensus" within the party.
NBC had also been initially scheduled to co-sponsor the Houston debate as well but was replaced by CNN after the RNC took issue with how the candidates were treated in an MSNBC-sponsored debate.
On CNN, an RNC spokesperson said it would not be appropriate for the National Review to participate since it had come out against one of the candidates, and said it would be the same if it had provided a ringing endorsement of one of them.
Trump called the magazine a "dying" publication, and tweeted: "Very few people read the National Review because it only knows how to criticize, but not how to lead."
