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Steyn nails it here...

Only in the US have the parties been set in aspic for a century-and-a-half. Unlike either Commonwealth or European countries, America has a rigid, institutionally entrenched two-party system. If you're an American first and a Republican voter second and you seriously believe in the central proposition of Trump's candidacy - that the endless flood of mass unskilled immigration is putting the very nation at stake - why would you put party over country? Why commit to supporting, say, Jeb Bush who thinks illegal immigration is an "act of love"? Many electors agree with Trump - that America is dying before their eyes. If that's the case, why should fealty to a party that bears a large measure of responsibility for that decay take precedence over love of country?

The reality is that the GOP establishment, after their appalling behavior in the Hastert years, were given a second chance by the base in 2010, and a third chance in 2014. Now they're demanding a fourth chance - and people go, well, say what you like but a Republican president will at least get to appoint rock-ribbed Supreme Court justices, like, er, John Roberts, who constitutionalized Obamacare, and, um, Anthony Kennedy, who gave us federally mandated gay marriage. Boehner, McConnell, Kennedy, Roberts... Not much to show for a party that's been supposedly dominant for 35 years, is it?

The GOP thinks the issue is Trump; much of the base thinks the issue is the GOP.

The GOP thinks the issue is Trump; much of the base thinks the issue is the GOP.

First rounds in Civil War 2 here, IMO. Team Beltway vs. Main Street.

The problem is the GOP “leaders” and those who continue to put them in place. I would never have become a Republican as a young voter with the likes of John Boehner and McConnell running things.