A House Divided

There's a weird phenomenon that happens in politics after a primary has concluded: people who were, only moments ago, kicking and punching each other to get to the nomination all of a sudden drop their weapons and start singing Kumbaya.  As human beings, it's unnatural for us to go from enemies to besties overnight.  People remember and hold grudges.  Some longer than others.  Don't believe me? Go watch The Godfather I and II.  Although this weird phenomenon is par for the course, there's something strange happening recently now that Donald Trump has effectively won the nomination for the Republican Party.  Members of the Republican Party who were at odds with Trump during the primary are not dropping their weapons.  They're not singing Kumbaya.  In fact they're doubling down on their opposition to their own party's Presidential nominee:

I find this particularly interesting because Trump is merely occupying a space that was quite literally created by the same people who, now all of a sudden, are claiming to be appalled by his occupation of said space.  In other words, the GOP created Trump.  For years, the GOP has pretended to look the other way as anti-minority and anti-female rhetoric has been used by their base and even by their own elected officials.  They were fine when it was just being said among party members, but now that Trump has taken their play book and broadcast it to the entire planet, they're not so sure about things anymore. 

You have to hand it to Trump, however.  His policies aside, the man has masterfully tapped into the sentiment of many disaffected voters who are tired of politics as usual and want to see something different.  But just like the Bernie supporters, the "something different" that the Trump supporters want is totally unrealistic.  The United States is not going to ban Muslims from entering the country, nor is it going to build a wall and make another sovereign nation (Mexico) pay for it.  Much like Bernie's cries of "free college for everybody," these policies might sounds appealing to the base but they're not rooted in reality.   

The GOP is now caught between a rock and a hard place: they can't win the election if they tell these masses to get real, and on the other hand they can't officially co-sign to Trump's rhetoric.  So what's a party to do?