begin quote from:
| Wall Street Journal | - |
The
week that Donald Trump all but wrapped up the Republican nomination for
President should have been a time of reaching out to adversaries and
trying to repair his party's breach.
Could Donald Trump Implode?
Trying to purge GOP doubters might doom his candidacy.
ENLARGE
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters in Charleston, West Virginia, U.S. May 5, 2016.
Photo:
Reuters
Mr. Trump’s threats against GOP doubters escalated over the weekend, especially against House Speaker Paul Ryan for saying on Thursday he wasn’t yet ready to endorse the businessman. The two men are set to meet in Washington on Thursday. But in the meantime Mr. Trump is resorting to political threats to force Mr. Ryan to bend to his will.
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The Trump camp also unleashed Sarah Palin to announce on CNN that Mr. Ryan’s career is probably “over” and she will lead an effort to defeat him in his Republican primary in Wisconsin later this year.
“I think Paul Ryan is soon to be ‘Cantored,’ as in Eric Cantor,” said Mrs. Palin, who endorsed Mr. Trump in Iowa before he lost to Ted Cruz. Mr. Cantor, the former House Majority Leader, lost his Virginia primary in 2014. Mrs. Palin resides in her own private Idaho, but her threats echo those from other Trump advocates.
Mr. Trump keeps saying he can win states like Wisconsin, and apparently he thinks the way to do it is by purging the Ryan wing of the GOP from the new Trump Party. “Paul Ryan said that I inherited something very special, the Republican Party. Wrong, I didn’t inherit it, I won it with millions of voters!” Mr. Trump tweeted on May 6.
But the Republican Party is not one of his golf courses for which he can determine who has what tee times. A political party is an alliance of people who share enough principles to unite to win elections and run the government. They can’t be ordered around by Don Corleone-style threats. They have to be persuaded and mobilized. Are Mr. Trump and his campaign going to require loyalty oaths of every Republican officeholder who wants to attend the convention?
All of this is more perilous for Mr. Trump’s candidacy than he and his allies seem to appreciate. Like Mr. Ryan, hundreds of GOP officeholders and candidates are deciding whether to endorse Mr. Trump or keep their distance. Thousands of potential donors are deciding whether to support Mr. Trump or devote their efforts to staving off losses in the House and Senate.
More immediately dangerous to his chances in November, some conservatives are trying to recruit a major GOP figure to run as a third-party candidate. We have discouraged this as likely to elect Hillary Clinton and perhaps lead to GOP losses down-ballot. The U.S. can’t afford another run of unrestrained progressive government.
In his own self-interest, Mr. Trump should be working overtime to prevent a third-party challenge that would attract Republicans and make his defeat likely. The more Mr. Trump declares war on party dissenters, the more Republicans he will convince that the Presidency is probably lost in any case and even a long-shot third-party campaign may be worth the political risk.
Above all, now that Mr. Trump is the presumptive nominee, millions of Americans are looking at him as a potential President. They are watching with a new seriousness and making judgments about his character and political values that will be hard to change once they become fixed. This audience of voters is far larger than the 10.6 million who have supported him in the primaries.
If Mr. Trump really wants to be President, as opposed to losing as a populist martyr, he has to build a broader coalition. He needs to persuade doubters not by lashing out but by sounding like a potential President. He needs to find a running mate people will respect and advisers willing to serve in his Administration. And he needs to give thoughtful speeches with specific ideas for reviving economic growth and keeping the country safe.
Time is more fleeting than he seems to think. If he doesn’t act more like a genuine leader soon, he may find that his candidacy has imploded before he is even nominated.