Moulitsas: Don’t bet on a new Donald

Having all but locked up the Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump is proving himself vastly unpopular among women, Latinos, African-Americans, Asians, young people and pretty much anyone who isn’t a white male over the age of 35. 

He also presides over a deeply divided party. 

{mosads}A traditional candidate would use this time to unite those in his party while simultaneously shifting to general election mode to win back some of the people he may have alienated during the primary. 

But we’re talking about Donald Trump here. 

There will be no pivoting to general election mode. That would assume Trump ran to the right in his race to get the GOP nod, but he didn’t. He was just himself: a boorish jerk who insulted his way to the nomination. 

His primary victory has only served to reinforce his worst traits, because he’s clearly failing to understand that winning 10 million rabid conservatives in a primary campaign has zero bearing on his ability to win a majority of the American electorate in November.

So why would he run to the center when he can’t even be bothered with uniting his party? “Does it have to be unified?” Trump asked. “I’m very different than everybody else, perhaps that’s ever run for office. I actually don’t think so.” 

He certainly hasn’t reacted with grace when prominent Republicans like Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham have expressed skepticism. Rather than offer platitudes about finding common ground and earning their support, the New York mogul went nuclear on both of his fellow Republicans, deriding Ryan’s agenda in the House — while attack dog Sarah Palin promised Ryan a primary challenge in Wisconsin — and “rejecting” his former opponent as a loser with “zero credibility” who “can’t even beat ISIS” and was “beyond rehabilitation.” A parody version of Trump couldn’t have trumped Trump. 

Which is why much of the conservative punditry is reacting with shock and horror. The New York Times’s Ross Douthat wrote, “His unfitness starts with basic issues of temperament. It encompasses the race-baiting, the conspiracy theorizing, the flirtations with violence, and the pathological lying that have been his campaign-trail stock in trade.” The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin wrote, “Someone as narcissistic and as devoid of conservative principles as Trump couldn’t become a conciliatory, minimally coherent Republican.” The National Review’s Bill Kristol tweeted that “if you’re for Trump you functionally are for a man unfit to be president,” and Fox News’s Erick Erickson wrote, “Reporters writing about the ‘Stop Trump’ effort get it wrong. It’s ‘Never Trump,’ as in come hell or high water we will never vote for Trump.” 

Former GOP officeholders have been equally brutal. “Unequivocally, I am not supporting Donald Trump,” said former New Hampshire Sen. Gordon Humphrey. “I think he is a sociopath.” Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman said, “Donald Trump is simply unfit to be president. We have all seen his bullying, misogyny and provoking of racial hatred.” And the entire Bush clan is refusing to endorse, with Jeb writing, “He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And, he is not a consistent conservative. These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy.” 

And that’s not to mention those Republican candidates for federal office who treat Trump like Lord Voldemort, referring to him euphemistically as “the Republican nominee” while refusing to say his name or attend his convention. 

Not that Trump cares. He’s different. People love him. No one runs campaigns better than him. Tremendous campaigns — the best! Meanwhile, reality marches on, outside the confines of his delusional mind. 

Moulitsas is the founder and publisher of Daily Kos.