That’s the billion dollar question. And Hillary has the same problem in reverse.
With Trump, the GOP down ticket survives, even if he would not prevail. I think Trump would beat her or Bernie. His win would need to overwhelm or they steal it by fraud.
Without Trump, the down ticket losses will hand Hellary the Presidency and possibly both the Senate and the House. That might be the only reason they have left for cooperation and support.
The Republican party has been horribly dishonest and unethical with Trump. They never should have accepted Trump’s entry if their ultimate plan was to sabotage his race to the WH. They likely saw $$$ and thought they could fleece his supporters. They planned on grafting money off his candidacy and were shocked to get zilch. And now hundreds of millions of dollars pissed away and more headaches to come. I blame the aristocracy of Bush.
Oh, I don't know about that. If Trump is the nominee, I think that could damage lots of good conservatives down-ticket, by unfair association with Trump. You may see many Republicans distancing themselves from Trump, if they perceive he is electoral poison. Trump being the Republican standard-bearer could lead to a Democratic sweep of landslide proportions, all across the country. That's the problem of Trump's extraordinarily high unfavorables with most of the country.