Donald Trump is going to win the Republican Presidential nomination. Shortly after that, all hell is going to break loose.
The gypsy-cursed wax statue called Mitch McConnell has already vowed to drop Trump “like a hot rock” if he secures the nomination, which means his party is willing to shred the Constitution and undermine democracy more than they already have. So what happens, then, when the democratically chosen Republican nominee gets spurned by party leadership?
Donald Trump has already told us — and it might be the end of the GOP, once and for all.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Will Trump secure the nomination? This article is being written on Super Tuesday, which means we’re close to a better understanding of how this race will play out.
But the truth is, we already know which way the wind is blowing.
Nevada, South Carolina and Beyond
Donald Trump has already won big. Political statistician and self-appointed prognosticator Nate Silver got it wrong — so wrong, in fact, that some are beginning to wonder if political forecasters were complicit in luring GOP leadership into a false sense of security.
And it’s true — nobody in the Republican establishment expected Trump to win as big as he has. After just four states have cast their votes — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — Trump is running away with the nomination:
- He has secured 81 pledged delegates
- Ted Cruz has 17
- Marco Rubio has 17
- John Kasich has 6
- Ben Carson has 4
Trump stomped the Jeb Bush campaign to death and elbowed Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul out of the race without breaking a sweat.
Keep in mind that a Republican needs 1,237 delegates to secure the nomination, and there are still 2,341 delegates left to allocate. Nevertheless, Super Tuesday will tell all.
What’s In Store for Super Tuesday?
Although we’ve already been witness to the futility of statistics and polls, NPR confirms that one of the likeliest scenarios is a huge victory for Trump on Super Tuesday:
- It’s quite likely he could sweep the southern states, with the possible exception of Cruz’s home state of Texas.
- He might also come extremely close in contested northern states such as Massachusetts and Vermont.
The point is, Rubio — still undeservedly holding on to hope he could pull ahead — is looking about as likely at this point as Kasich, who doesn’t stand a chance. And the less said of Carson’s book-tour-masquerading-as-presidential-campaign, the better. Cruz might still give Trump a bruising in the south, but only on account of his masterful manipulation of the nation’s evangelical voters, many of whom are still hesitant to embrace Trump.
The Great Social Experiment Continues
Any day now, we’re going to wake to a breaking news story about Donald Trump holding a press conference. In it, he’s going to address the nation from behind a bulletproof shield and announce he was never serious about being president — that he just wanted to see what would happen if he descended on his golden escalator and appealed directly to America’s collective id.
What happens to democracy then? Where do we go after it’s revealed almost half of America’s electorate are outed as uneducated bigots? Sorry if that’s harsh, but when Trump’s nuggets of truth are so few and far between — raising taxes on hedge fund managers, to name one — there can be little doubt about who his target audience really is.
The important question now is this: What happens after Super Tuesday? Even if it’s not a definitive win that paves a clear path to a Trump nomination, it’s still bound to inspire the rest of his followers across the nation to double down on their support.
So what happens when the GOP establishment is faced with an insurgent candidate it doesn’t want and never asked for? Great question.
What Happens to a Trump Presidential Bid?
Hysterical fear-monger and human blowfish Alex Jones has one potential answer that involves black ops swooping in to “correct” the situation.
Trouble is, the Democratic Party is now faced with a similar identity crisis. Many of the primaries held after Super Tuesday look favorable to political revolutionary Bernie Sanders. Indeed, many people seem to have forgotten that the 2008 primary season between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was incredibly close — right until the very end. At this point, it’s fair to say that 2016 is going to be quite similar, if not an outright repeat of history, where Clinton’s support is consistently eroded by a more exciting and progressive candidate.
It’s also possible the Republican primary could be just as brutal and protracted. Keep your fingers crossed for a Sanders-Trump general election, because it could be the show of a lifetime.
But consider this, too: Imagine what would happen if both Trump and Sanders decided to run as Independents if their primary bids both fail. It could be the four-way presidential race political scientists have only dreamed about. And it could change politics in this country forever.
Featured Image by Brett Levin via Flickr, available under a Creative Commons license.
