“National Review means well, but they mean well”
I have to take issue with just this small part. No they don’t mean well at all. NRO and their chattering bobble heads are the gatekeepers for the GOP establishment and the political class in general. They wet their beaks in the same pond. Trump is a threat to their whole ineffective orderly way of keeping the status quo. They mean to take Trump down and Cruz along with him if possible and get Rubio or Jeb or somebody in the club to the nomination.
Fortunately they are doing a poor job of reading the electorate as you pointed out and its going to massively backfire on them.
Perfect! LOL!