So getting back to the point of the earlier discussions and setting aside the , what does the Trump campaign plan to do to bring back the #nevertrump group other than telling them to get lost? Even given that the GOP may well stop trying to keep him out of winning the first vote, it's obvious a lot of Republicans right now are saying no under any circumstances. I'm not yet seeing how Trump could win the GE even with an undivided Party. Denying there's a problem doesn't seem to be working.
I believe that common sense, reason and the patently obvious fact that there are stark differences between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on policy...will bring back all but the most rabid. Honestly, those trying to act as if Hillary and Donald are "the same" are trying to be balance a cognitive dissonance that is just impossible to maintain. I get "why" they are doing it, they hate Trump based on his personal crassness and style...and they understand that he IS to the left of guys like Cruz on most social issues. So its easier to join a group like NeverTrump if you, in your conscience, paint the other guy as Lucifer incarnate. Psychologically, its a pretty common approach...heck, even John Boehner takes it =).
As the campaign morphs into a Trump vs Clinton event, the differences between the two will be drawn very sharply, we are actually seeing this already. In fact, Far Left groups are terrified and angry at Trump because they are clearly seeing the contrasts...which are own NeverTrumps are evidently blind to. Today in California, a host of young illegal immigrants basically rioted outside a Trump convention because they are apoplectic over his approach to immigration and building a wall...so while they NeverTrumps may want to disbelieve everything from Trump, the other side is not so blind to what is coming and they are going to fight it mightily.
You can often judge, or at least define, a leader by who his enemies are and with Trump you can define his "real" political positions accordingly. His social moderacy, while well right of Clinton, enrages the Far Right in his own party. His strong stances on National Defense, government, immigration, SCJ appointments, abortion, and business/taxes are enraging liberals across the breadth of the nation. So by Trump's opposition alone, you can place DT's political positioning almost precisely.
Now the two extremes are intent on painting DT as being either radically to the Left, or alternately, somewhere beyond the reactionary right. They do so, because it facilitates their own opposition to his policies, which they dislike...and which, ironically, they believe he WILL implement to their detriment. But the cognitive dissonance these contradictory positions engender, is readily apparent to anyone NOT a card carrying member of each "Far" group.
So for those who don't believe DT's own words, because he once was a businessman who tried to "split the baby" and appease politicians and leaders on both sides of the aisle, simply look to his current enemies if you need confirmation that his political positions as verbalized today are real.
I cannot guarantee Trump will beat Clinton. Likewise for Cruz, Kasich or any other potential candidate. Elections are complex, subject to whim and event, and are always guided by factors that only become clear after the fact. But two things have generally been true; polls prior to the conventions are of little value, and positioning to take votes from Independents and the political center is critical to success. Now, neither of these truisms are ALWAYS true, but they are generally good guidelines when approaching any election.
As such, DT is well positioned with the key groups in this election...Reagan Dems and Independents. His problem, and it would be a problem no matter who the eventual GOP nominee is...is that the GOP has some genuine and deep ideological divides within its ranks. Cruz and Trump are simply embodying what already exists within this party.
On one hand we have a powerful core (perhaps 30%) of strict social conservatives. On the other, a core of economic conservatives (30) who tend to social Libertarianism. In the middle (the other 40%), we have a 3rd core who seem to straddle elements of both philosophies. These elements, particular the first two are warring over the direction of the party and the designation of its leadership...whilst the final 3rd tends to focus on issues of electability and unity. Resolving these internal conflicts is key to winning in November...as it has been in the last two elections. This is not new, and it is a major contributing factor in GOP defeat over the past decade in presidential elections.
Let me add, that its a tad unfortunate that Cruz and Trump are the two men who now embody the core groups of the GOP...neither are prone to compromise and both seem to have an overabundance of ego and certainty in their own "rightness". Those who claim we on the Trump side cannot see the faults he has, are not giving us the credit we deserve. Like most voters, we see a balance sheet and believe Donald comes out on the "green" side at the bottom of the ledger.
Perhaps its no coincidence that the GOP race has come down to two very uncompromising men, and they...stylistically and ideologically...are simply reflecting the ideals and feelings of their constituencies...which would be my guess. But the larger point is, BOTH these men are now responsible for finding a way to heal the divide in the party...or at least mitigating it. Either they will, and we will win this election. And fair or not, the burden for mitigating that party rift falls disproportionately on the shoulders of which of these two men LOSES the nomination race. The defeated candidate will either work to bring the party back together or he will not. If he doesn't, Hillary Clinton will nominate the next 3 SCJ's and continue us down the path of higher taxes, unrestrained immigration with citizenship, more government, the collapse of the middle class, economic malaise and international weakness...and the erosion of many of our cherished Bill of Rights protections.
The cost of failing to unify will be steep...and the bill will be delivered to the NeverTrump and/or NeverCruz adherents.