July 10, 2016 10:55 AM UTC

Reality of Trump Induces Cycle of GOP Sycophancy and Panic

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• by: Colorado Pols

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports–while Colorado Republicans tour the state this weekend on a “GOP Unity Tour,” including rousing endorsements of Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump by U.S. Senate candidate Darryl Glenn and others, something else is going on in Washington, D.C.

That is, straight-up, stone-cold desperation.

The hope this week among Republicans was that Donald Trump would make headway on unifying the party in two pivotal meetings on Capitol Hill…

With just more than a week to go before the GOP convention in Cleveland, angst over the presidential contest is growing in the Senate…

“I don’t think anybody came away with any higher opinion of Trump’s chances but I do think that Trump could be useful in attacking their opponents,” said a Senate Republican aide. “In a room full of people looking for any kind of silver lining, that was it. But there was no greater hope he can win.”

House lawmakers felt similarly.

“I don’t know that anything moved appreciably,” said a Republican strategist for a major business group who spoke with House lawmakers and aides Friday about Trump’s visit.

There remains talk about a possible maneuver at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland later this month to deny Trump the party’s nomination for President. NBC News reports that one of the ringleaders of the “Free the Delegates” faction headed to Cleveland is Colorado’s own Kendal Unruh, originally a Ted Cruz supporter. But the various scenarios under discussion all have one fatal flaw. Democracy:

There’s a significant downside to any push to unbind the delegates: It essentially invalidates the five months of Republican primaries and caucuses used to choose the delegates. And many of these GOP leaders could find move unseemly and undemocratic…

The smart bet is that none of these scenarios is successful. Most Republican delegates, by nature, aren’t rebels. They’re go-along-get-along party leaders who probably aren’t eager to overturn the will of the voters. More importantly, a real presidential alternative to Trump has yet to emerge. After all, it’s hard to beat somebody with nobody.

The coming week before the GOP convention is either going to be highly eventful in terms of Republicans making one last attempt to reclaim their party from Trump before his status as their ideological and titular leader becomes irrevocable–or nothing will happen, as time runs out on any hope of “Never Trump” Republicans stopping him. Large segments of the Republican Party, including Colorado Republicans under chairman Steve House and the party’s U.S. Senate nominee, have fully embraced Trump in terms they can’t take back.

Honestly, we can’t tell Republicans which is the better political course, to go down with Trump’s ship or blow up their party trying to stop him. We do know this is a situation few Republicans with any political sense about them, including Colorado Republicans who did everything in their power to hold off Trump, ever wanted.

In a few days, one way or another, this whole discussion will be moot.