海角大神

Yes, Republican lawmakers are worried that Donald Trump might actually win their party鈥檚 nomination for president. Their big fear is that the name 鈥淭rump鈥� on the top of the ticket will cause GOP voters to defect or sit at home and that Republicans in other races, from the Senate on down, will lose as a result.

鈥淥bviously, we all know from history that if you have a weak top of the ticket, that has a significant effect on the states, particularly the swing states,鈥� said ex-GOP nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona today at a 海角大神 Science Monitor breakfast.

But, like the Pentagon planning for all possible conflict scenarios, the Republican Party actually has an outline for how to handle Trump, the nominee. It鈥檚 a seven-page memo drawn up by National Republican Senatorial Committee head Ward Barker that discusses how to prepare for 2016 by 鈥渦nderstanding the environment and recognizing the Trump phenomenon.鈥� Senior Republicans provided the memo to Robert Costa and Philip Rucker of .

Basically, the message is that down-ballot GOP candidates should try to profit from what is beneficial to the party in the Trump message, and avoid the bad. The former means adopting some of his tough messages, such as the need to confront China and his blunt talk about US problems.

鈥淭rump is saying the Emperor has no clothes and he challenges our politically correct times. Our candidates shouldn鈥檛 miss this point,鈥� the memo states.

This doesn鈥檛 mean the GOP will urge all its candidates to push a classy, huge wall along the border, paid for by Mexico, if Trump wins. It just means recognizing what issues work for The Donald.

鈥淪take out turf in the same issue zone and offer your own ideas,鈥� says the NRSC memo.

At the same time the memo isn鈥檛 entirely complimentary of Trump. It calls him a 鈥渕isguided missile鈥� and says he is subject to 鈥渇arcical fits.鈥�

It urges other Republicans to 鈥渞un your own race.鈥� In particular, GOP candidates should be wary of the 鈥渨acky鈥� way Trump talks about women. They should just demur and say they don鈥檛 agree if Trump, say, insults a female news anchor with hormonal-based slurs.

鈥淲e need not be so tied to him we have to engage in permanent cleanup or distancing maneuvers,鈥� says the memo.

Would this work? Well, read the and see what you think. Much of it is campaign school 101. But it rests crucially on the assumption that nominee Trump would be more restrained 鈥� dare we say more presidential? 鈥� than candidate Trump has proven to be.

It鈥檚 possible that might happen. Much of the GOP would rally around nominee Trump, after all. They鈥檇 have little choice. The same party figures now running around trying to block his chances would suddenly see new virtues in the billionaire, points out .

鈥淐onservatives who insisted during the primary they could never support him would see in their nominee a different, more sober and thoughtful figure than the demagogue they had lambasted months before,鈥� Mr. Chait writes.

In this environment, Trump might return the favor and act more like a traditional nominee.

Or not. To this point he鈥檚 done things his way and it seems more likely that Trump would continue to be Trump, seven-page memos notwithstanding. After all, on Wednesday he appeared on the radio show of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has long insisted that 9/11 was an inside job.

The Jones interview basically amounted to a finger-based insult 鈥渢o all those establishment Republicans hoping he鈥檒l straighten out or fall by the wayside,鈥� writes Callum Borcher on the Washington Post .

And that鈥檚 the root problem. It could be very, very hard for any Republican candidate to not be so tied to Trump they have to engage in 鈥減ermanent cleanup.鈥� Trump is so outspoken, outrageous, and newsworthy on a daily basis that candidates will be asked on a daily basis for their reaction to the latest Trump-splosion.

If it comes to that.