WaPo | This cartoon, which comes from the pen of Clay Bennett, the editorial
cartoonist for the Chattanooga Times Free Press, expresses the belief
of almost all of the Republican establishment.
Sure, Donald Trump
is leading in the polls everywhere right now, but so was Howard Dean at
this point in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary race. And Dean
wound up flaming out with Democrats making the "Dated Dean, Married Kerry" bumper sticker a very real thing.
So,
eventually, the thinking goes, Trump's support will flame out. The
Summer of Trump will turn into the fall of discontent (or something).
People who say they are for Trump now are having a laugh but will come to their senses when the actual time to vote nears and they start caring about things like electability. Or Trump will fundamentally disqualify himself in some meaningful way some time soon.
The "sober up" metaphor, of course, isn't entirely new. Seth Meyers has predicted that same thing.
