hatch a plan? It's an interesting gamble on Christie's part: if Trump goes the distance,* the payoff could be YOOOOGE (Pierce is thinking AG in a Trump administration, a post to which Christie would be eminently suited by the standards of such distinguished former attorneys general as John Mitchell, Ed Meese and Alberto Gonzales). If Trump's not the nominee, and if, say, Cruz or Rubio go down in November, Christie will not be the first person at whom rifles are aimed in the circular firing squad. If Trump is the nominee and gets waxed in November, the governor will be radioactive as far as the GOP establishment is concerned. But whatever else his many failings may include, Christie is not conspicuously stupid, so I'm thinking that his decision might well be informed by the calculation that, win or lose, the GOP establishment isn't going to be a very significant player going forward.

Generously proportioned a rat though he may be, I don't think the subtraction of Christie's bulk will impart to that sinking ship the buoyancy it's so rapidly losing. I must check in at the National Review site today: there's bound to be some very entertaining gnashing of teeth and rending of garments going down in Bill Buckley's old crib.

cordially,

*aided by the votes of boxley, who'll do it for shits and giggles and to gratify his Clinton hatred, and by mmoffitt, who will thereby heighten the contradictions and bring about a broad sunlit utopian upland to be governed by democratically elected Lollipop Soviets.

Ezra Klein:

The Republican Party is facing a severe collective-action problem. It's not clear Republicans can stop Trump at this point, but if they have any chance, it will take a tremendous mobilization — a coordinated, all-points assault like nothing a political party has managed in the modern era.

At the same time, though, the overwhelming incentive for any individual Republican power player is to defect to Trump's side while the defection will still mean something. Endorsing Trump at a moment when Trump still needs endorsements might net you a job, a kickback, a call of appreciation, something. Endorsing Trump once he's already the nominee is meaningless. Then you're just a pathetic follower. A weakling. A loser.

I suspect we'll see quite a number of rodents learning to swim before Tuesday.

cordially,