Ghost I agree with you. My sense is that most of the people who are inclined to support Trump (either in votes or in poll responses) are already supporting Trump. I suspect that he is near his ceiling both ideologically and in personality terms. I’ve heard the idea that people will vote for him but not acknowledge that intention to a pollster, hence his real support might be understated in polls; that thought strikes me as unconvincing, since his supporters wear on their sleeves their contempt for all aspects of establishment politicking and even for decent civil behavior. The thought that he would run rough-shod over a Democrat in the general election is naive in my estimation.
And like you, I find much in his candidacy repulsive. He and his supporters have just about poisoned the well. Not only can they not count on support significantly beyond what he already commands, I don’t think they can count on support from large numbers of Republicans or Conservatives either.
It’s very ironic that the Republican establishment has told us for years that we must close ranks behind them, however reluctantly, in order to prevent a Democrat from being elected, and now that is a significant part of the argument for Trump. I thought we were trying to pick someone we could all vote *for*, but Trump has just about made that impossible for me and, I suspect, for many others.
Well said in post 56.