Thanks for the greeting, I'm thrilled to have come across this board!
I'm a former Poli-Sci guy, ex Army Captain, currently working as a Federal Explosive Detection Canine Handler....so I'm VERY interested in what is an incredibly unique political season. In some ways, it all reminds me of the 1980 election year but it also has some entirely unprecedented characteristics....specifically...I don't believe we've ever seen (in the modern era) a party leadership so strongly invested in stopping a candidate who is clearly the front runner and likely nominee...there was resistance to Reagan amongst the elite in 1976 (and 1980), but nowhere near the rancor we are seeing today.
Perhaps a comparison could be made to Goldwater, though the context was quite different in 1964.
What does correlate to past electoral events, is Trump trailing Hillary as of today...as Reagan trailed Carter significantly in mid march 1980 (by 10-15 points). As with Reagan, if Trump can start to coalesce the various factions within the GOP, you can expect him to draw even with her by early May and then to move ahead of her as the convention nears. I think the only thing that can prevent that, is a sustained...well funded... and concerted effort from within the GOP leadership to tear down its own likely nominee. Which of course, would be an act of genuine insanity. That kind of suicidal act is likely to hand the election to Hillary, whereas even a grudging acceptance form the establishment is almost certain to change the entire dynamic of the race leading to a Trump win.
Unfortunately, I think there is at least an element within GOP leadership...see Romney and confederates...who would rather lose to Hillary than see Trump win a general election. A Trump victory would shatter the establishment's grip on the party and alter its trajectory putting a new focus on attracting support from Blue Collar and middle class America. Too many in the GOP leadership fear damage to their own positions and power structure more than they fear the horrific damage a Clinton administration will do to the country. And that's genuinely pathetic in my opinion, a sort of "take my ball and go home if things don't go my way" attitude that can only lead to self destruction.
So our best hope has to be that the more rational elements in the current leadership can accept that Trump is reshaping a more populist GOP and that they would be wiser to board that train...rather than derail it and put the nation on a deadly path towards more socialistic governance under Hillary. Trump MUST find a way to facilitate the leadership's transition from opposition to, at the very least, grudging acceptance of his candidacy...and he can most easily achieve this through easing his tone towards fellow Republicans (even leadership/establishment types) and aiming his acidic wit towards a more apt target...Hillary Clinton. The formula is simple, to steal a famous quote, we must all stand together...or we shall surely hang (or at least lose) separately.
