National

Jonathan Chait on why the GOP Elites hate Trump: “First, they recognize that his deep unpopularity among the general public makes him a historically awful nominee. Second, his egomania, lack of interest in policy, and history of off-the-reservation statements and behavior give them justifiable reasons to doubt he will stay committed to their agenda even if somehow elected. And third, they find his persona repellant.” “That last factor — the visceral loathing for the man himself that pulsates among his opponents — has become the highest-order question in the Republican race. Other Republican candidates, who began the race defining themselves on their own personal and ideological terms, now define themselves in relation to Trump’s persona.”

“A majority of Republican insiders say Donald Trump should not get the GOP presidential nomination if he falls short of winning a majority of delegates – even if Trump amasses more than any of his opponents,” Politico reports. “Roughly six-in-10 Republicans said the party should nominate another candidate if Trump finishes with a plurality, rather than the required 1,237-delegate majority necessary to claim the party nomination.” But how can Trump be denied if he has a majority of the delegates? Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign — and to some extent Gov. John Kasich’s campaign as well — is working hard in every state still choosing delegates. If he’s successful, he will be able to place some of his own loyalists as Trump’s delegates. Cruz will also propose a rule to “unbind” the delegates — to allow them to vote their preference and possibly ignore the outcome of the primaries. Ted Kennedy tried that in 1980 to prevent Carter's nomination, and I think Reagan tried it in 1976 to prevent Ford's. Neither worked. Jonathan Bernstein explains:

The process involves three steps. First, the Republican National Committee will establish a set of proposed rules for the convention. Rules maven Josh Putnam says it’s unlikely that those rules will free the delegates. Then, a week before the gathering, those rules will be handed off to the convention’s rules committee, which is free to change them any way it likes. Once that’s done, the rules go to the full convention, which can accept them as is or amend them in any way it deems appropriate. If the delegates vote to free themselves, then that’s that: They will vote as they wish, regardless of how they were chosen to vote.

If that happens, Cruz or Paul Ryan or Mitt Romney maybe a likely nominee. But this maneuver is like playing with a nuclear bomb that is in the process of detonating. Because, 1) Trump will do something, and it won't be good 2) his supporters will do whatever Trump tells to do, either to write him in or stay home; and 3) the regular rank and file Republican electorate doesn't care for that too much.

Jonah Goldberg says the Republican Party is over: “Nominating Donald Trump will wreck the Republican Party as we know it. Not nominating Trump will wreck the Republican Party as we know it. The sooner everyone recognizes this fact, the better.” “Denial has been Trump’s greatest ally. Republicans and commentators didn’t believe he would run. They didn’t believe he could be an attractive candidate to rational people, no matter how angry with “the establishment” voters said they were. They – which includes me – were wrong.” “Trump represents just the most pronounced of a spiderweb of ideological and demographic fault lines that are increasingly difficult to paper over. As Joel Kotkin put it in a column for the Orange County Register, the Republican Party now ‘consists of interest groups that so broadly dislike each other that they share little common ground.’ Put simply, and with the incessant and obtuse comparisons of Trump to Reagan notwithstanding, you cannot have a party that’s both Reaganite and Trumpish.”

Donald Trump met with the Washington Post editorial board yesterday and towards the end of the discussion was asked “would you use a battlefield nuclear weapon to take out ISIS?”

TRUMP: I don’t want to use, I don’t want to start the process of nuclear. Remember the one thing that everybody has said, I’m a counterpuncher. Rubio hit me. Bush hit me. When I said low energy, he’s a low-energy individual, he hit me first. I spent, by the way he spent 18 million dollars’ worth of negative ads on me. That’s putting [MUFFLED]… RYAN: This is about ISIS. You would not use a tactical nuclear weapon against ISIS? [CROSSTALK] TRUMP: I’ll tell you one thing, this is a very good looking group of people here. Could I just go around so I know who the hell I’m talking to?

This is disqualifying.