Donald Trump only needs 50 million more votes than he has now to win the presidency in November.
That’s either a relief or frightening, because while it’s a high bar, it’s not insurmountable.
Trump will get millions more votes in the general election. That’s scaring the bejeezus out of Republicans and they don’t know what to do.
They may not like Trump, but they recoil in horror at the mere mention of Hillary Clinton.
So why do so many powerful Republicans wish they could have a do-over on the primaries that selected The Donald?
Because they know that win or lose, Trump will probably destroy their party.
That’s not a crazy conclusion, nor is it anything new in American politics.
Outsiders like Trump tend to be fatal to the establishment that embraces them.
It goes right to the beginning of the American state. George Washington warned against the idea of forming political parties, and everyone promptly, but respectfully, ignored him.
The Federalist party got up and running to help elect America’s second president, John Adams, while Thomas Jefferson busied himself with forming the Democratic-Republicans.
Federalist founder Alexander Hamilton, who even before the Broadway musical, was a larger than life figure, ended up destroying the party when he wouldn’t support its nominee some years later. He had help, though, from his nemesis, the vice-president of the rival party, Aaron Burr. Here’s what Hamilton had to say about him:
He went on to say no one could think Burr qualified to be president “based on his public service.”
Most tellingly he said, “No mortal can tell what his principles are. He has talked all round the compass.”
Sound familiar?
Burr was accused of secretly supporting Hamilton’s federalist party, and even the suggestion was enough to drive another stake in the Federalist heart.
Another larger than life politician wrecked the Democractic-Republicans.
Andrew Jackson, the 7th president, won under its banner, and the party was history.
Interestingly, Jackson was described as “vulgar and belligerent,” and that was by his friends. He also killed a lot of Indians. Old Hickory, as he was known, was too big for someone else’s party, so he founded the modern Democratic Party.
And then there was Zachary Taylor, the 12th president. He was described as slovenly, loutish, unqualified, rich, and a terrible speaker. It was said he hated Mexicans and was a braggart. Here’s what he had to say about his presidential victory:
In other words..it was “huuuge.”
But it was a disaster for his party.
He was elected as a Whig. Remember them? Of course not. Taylor destroyed the party that elected him.
Senior Republicans apparently know their presidential history, which is why they are terrified by what they see happening today.
Trump displays almost every miserable tendency of those long ago party poopers. They know that the current Republican party isn’t immune from self-immolation.
So they flail around, criticizing him, but unable to disown him.
Consider the bizarre contortions of the powerful Republican Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.
He was horrified by Trump’s attack on a judge because he was “Mexican,” and therefore “biased.”
Like so much else that Trump says, that wasn’t even remotely true.
Ryan pounced, declaring that the attack was “a textbook definition of a racist comment”.
But he added he still supported Trump, suggesting that Ryan isn’t really opposed to a racist in the Oval Office.
Others are more forthright. Senator Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, simply states that his party has gone “batshit crazy”.
Some Republicans, like Reagan economic advisor Bruce Bartlett, want Trump to take control of the party, so that it can be destroyed.
Bartlett says it’s the only way out of this mess.
But come July, if the creek don’t rise, thousands of Republicans will gather in Cleveland to declare Donald Trump as their hero and standard-bearer.
It could very well be the last convention that the modern Republican party ever holds.