Was he sincere in his criticisms but not in his endorsement, or the other way around?
I’m not naive, and I know some primary adversaries even end up on the same ticket eventually despite some harsh words. (voodoo economics, anyone?). That’s a bit different from “not qualified to be president” to “I endorse this man to be president” I’ve never seen such a 180 in two weeks.
I could see him thinking Trump is the best left, considering what he thinks of Rubio and what the establishment thinks of Cruz, but can’t say that clearly for obvious reasons.
You guys have got to watch Christie squirm as George Stephanopoulos grills him on all the ways he has disagreed with Trump in the past. It was cringe-inducingly painful. There were so many things that Christie had mocked Trump about, legitimately, and hearing him try to make excuses or walk it all back was just a facepalm. So not only now do I think it was a bad move for Christie, I’m not even sure it was a good move for Trump. If he is going to get endorsements, it should be from people who haven’t gone on the record pointing out so much of what’s ridiculous about his proposals.
And then later in the program, Nikki Haley came on and said “Chris is a dear friend but none of us understands why he did this”. “Us”, presumably, including some of Christie’s top funders and his finance chair, who have expressed horror in response.
Literally the only thing I can make out of that post is that it is some kind of “what exit” meme I’m not familiar with.
I can see him going for the Vice-Presidential nomination (and Trump has said that he wants a politician for that role) on the assumption that Trump will be impeached and convicted within a year or so.
Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama just endorsed Trump as well. My guess is that this is a sign that the establishment is starting to realize it’s to late to stop Trump. In order to avoid a full blown civil war within the party, I think more establishment type Republicans are going to come over to Trump’s side. This will be especially likely if he does well on Tuesday.
I wouldn’t go that far, but I don’t see it as being completely out of the question that Trump, finding he doesn’t actually like being president (it’s hard work!) would resign before his term ends.
ETA: By the same logic, even if he doesn’t resign, he’s a likely voluntary one-termer, giving his VP a shot in 4 years instead of 8.
NY/NJ on the ticket? Doesn’t make sense. More likely AG.
But then, Trump’s candidacy is all about breaking the rules, so maybe this is another example and Christie is trying to set himself up for the next run.
If the establishment doesn’t stop Trump, then the establishment backs Clinton. McConnell said as much just today.
Here’s the problem: if Trump wins, then what are the Republicans? Certainly no longer a conservative party. A Trump Presidency would change everything. The Republicans would become an ugly nativist populist party. In response, that would have to change the Democrats too, probably into a primarily minorities/elites alliance. The working class would be pretty much dead to them.
As a Democrat, I think the Republicans have already become an ugly nativist populist party. It began in 2008 with the Palin VP pick. It continued in 2010 with the rise of the Tea Party. It’s only gotten worse since then with the Republicans taking over the Senate in 2014, the ousting of Boehner, and the continued obstructionism. A Trump nomination is not the beginning of a nativist populist turn, it’s just the chickens coming home to roost.
As far as McConnell saying that Republicans will drop Trump like a hot rock, I just don’t see it happening. The last time the Republican establishment disowned their nominee was with Goldwater, and I don’t see it happening this year, even if Trump is the nominee.
I’m going to go out on a limb and make a bold prediction. I think that Trump looses badly to Clinton and drags congressional Republicans down with him. Clinton and the Democrats will overplay their hand for the next four years. Meanwhile, the Republicans will have to reorganize the way the Democrats did after the Dukakis loss. They will then come back in 2020 with a whole new platform and win in 2020 the way the new Democrats and Bill Clinton did in 1992. I think it will be a moderate patty that has cast aside the Tea Party wing and can win over moderate Democrats tired of Clinton having overplayed her hand. But that’s just a WAG 
The last two sentences don’t follow.
There’s been two trends running in the party, one towards more conservatism, one towards more nativism. The nativism is winning. And if Trump wins, conservative in the GOP basically dies. Trump is not a conservative, on most issues he’s more Democrat than Republican.
The question is, how do Democrats respond when Trump wants to implement their ideas? Do they gladly associate themselves with him?
Mostly plausible, but where do the Tea Party voters go?
So when Trump proposes Democratic ideas, they go along with him, treat him as an ally?
For better or worse, when party bases really dont like each other, one party will often get away from long held positions just because the other party now favors them.
Maybe the Libertarian Party grows stronger, becomes a 5% party instead of the current 0.5% party it is.
I’m more interested in where mainstream conservatives go. Their defection could change the Democratic Party, further marginalizing the angry white progressives who are backing Sanders.
The same place the liberal Democrats that led to the Mondale and Dukakis nominations went. They become marginalized to a larger invigorated more moderate Republican Party consisting of the current moderate Republicans and Democrats who are disappointed with four years of a Clinton presidency that didn’t deliver what they expected. This would be similar to how the liberal wing of the Democrats became marginalized when Clinton took the Democratic Party to the right in 1992.
People believe politicians? Politicians will say anything to acquire power. It’s a game.
No they don’t. If they do the “establishment” destroys the Republican brand. McConnell is bluffing. It’s weak and obvious.