Donald is Winning

Last night's Republican primaries and caucuses were rather interesting. On the one hand, Donald Trump won big. He won Vermont, Massachusetts, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas. He has a solid lead in the delegate math. There is no way this man can lose before the convention now. He's starting to pick up some endorsements, and even the most childish attacks from Marco Rubio did not work.

With that said, it's fair to say the Republican Party is not ready to go quietly. Ted Cruz won Alaska, Oklahoma, and most importantly, Texas last night. Marco Rubio won Minnesota, which actually may help Trump by complicating the anointing of his main opponent. Even so, the rejection of Trump by four states is a reminder that not everyone on the right has bought in.

Within the Republican establishment, the complete freak out over Trump is in full bloom.

As usual, Trump’s words contained more than a grain of indisputable truth. But it’s his other words—the schoolyard insults and crude New York City vernacular that masks a lack of knowledge about policy, the xenophobic dog whistles so loud they sound like a bark, the attacks on Republican elders, moderation on Planned Parenthood, even neutrality in the Israel-Palestine conflict—that so many Republicans cannot abide. As they dig in against his candidacy, they are girding for a civil war not, they insist, in order to cling to power over the party but to save the ideas and principles that have always held it together.

It is a war the GOP as we know it may not survive, “a big and strong fight going on about the future of the Republican Party as intense as we’ve ever seen,” said Pete Wehner, a veteran of the George W. Bush White House who has savaged Trump of late. “A Trump victory would be catastrophic to the Republican Party and a terrible danger to the republic itself. If he wins the presidency, you may see the efforts to form a new party.”

Even so, they are freaking out too late. They will have to rip this nomination out of the hands of the Trump supporters, something that would doom their electoral hopes this year. Assuming they're even trying that in three months, they may not succeed. All of this is a pipe-dream.

Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee, and frankly that's not really any worse than Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. Yes, he underperformed last night, but he still came out way ahead. Donald Trump is on his way to the Republican nomination. Reality is being mean to the GOP.