Republican Party

While many establishment Republicans would love Paul Ryan to emerge in Cleveland to rescue the party from what they think is a doomed presidential bid, as The Hill reports, some among their number recognize that any effort to take the nomination away from Trump or Cruz, if either goes to Cleveland with far more delegates than anyone else, could hurt the GOP for years.

Having surged from nowhere to "a contender" during March's fiascos, April has seen Speaker Ryan's odds of a nomination decline substantially...

In the race for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump would seem to be in the catbird seat. He has won the most states, the most delegates and the most votes—by nearly two million. He has brought out the largest crowds and is poised for huge wins in the largest states of the East, New York and Pennsylvania.

Yet, there is a growing probability that the backroom boys will steal the nomination from him at a brokered convention in Cleveland.

David Ignatius proposes a bad solution for the Republicans’ presidential nomination problems:

How can the GOP escape this demolition derby? Some have proposed a unity bid by House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.), or the redux of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. But these politicians would look like opportunists — stealing the nomination from the two candidates who won most of the primaries and caucuses — and the result might be even more divisive for the GOP.

Peter Leithart, with whom I just spent a wonderful three days in Canada, observes that the Republican Party has given up on traditional marriage, noting that the new line on SSM seems to be “personally opposed, but… .” Excerpts:

Submitted by Mark Hanna via AmericanThinker.com,

“I am more and more convinced that our campaign is going to earn the 1,237 delegates needed to win,” said Cruz after winning by a landslide in Wisconsin. But what he didn’t say is that to do that before the nominating convention, he has to amass nearly 82% of all remaining delegates -- a virtual impossibility.