2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: A "what if" scenario. What if: [View all]Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)or the Republican Party.
I find that a far-fetched fantasy.
However, the people who elected him will not accept a Romney or Bush or Rubio. (Those three being the best choice to pretend they are centrists and appeal to the Republican-leaning independents, the middle, and the center-right republicans. The Republican party wanted a tough-talking, White privilege, extremist. They want a white guy, just like them.
There is a strong belief that people like Romney, McCain, Bush, etc are Republicans and Conservatives in name only by people who have no clue what intellectual Conservatism is.
Cruz would probably be the only person they would swallow.
Trump withdrawing would be seen as some kind of conspiracy by the elite Washington, and they'd probably be right. I suspect faced even with a Cruz coming out of the Republican Convention that a lot of voters would stay home, and goaded by tinfoil hat conspiracy theory, even some riots.
I think the Republican Party recognizes they are screwed and have written off the General Election for President. They are pouring money into down ticket races to save what they can.
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