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This is how Donald Trump takes over

Lee Drutman on clouds, clocks, and the unexpected rise of Donald Trump. The governing cancer of our time: Donald Trump’s candidacy is the culmination of 30 years of antipolitics. Federico Finchelstein and Pablo Piccato on how Donald Trump may be showing us the future of right-wing politics. The conservative movement has become the GOP establishment — now what? Donald Trump doesn’t represent conservatism, but he does represent conservatives. In Iowa, fans chant “Trump! Trump!” at racially diverse high school basketball team. What differentiates Trump supporters from other Republicans? Ethnocentrism. Michael A. Cohen on how GOP voters want to be lied to: “Rather than recognizing that their demands could never be met, rather than seeking out a candidate who could moderate conservative positions to get into office and affect the change so deeply desired, GOP voters sought out a politician who lies to them at even greater levels. Enter Donald Trump”.

Donald Trump is disrupting the Religious Right’s Christian-America dreams: “Ted Cruz was leading in the Jerry Falwell wing of the evangelical movement, Marco Rubio in the Billy Graham wing, and Trump in the Jimmy Swaggart wing”. What do conservatives stand to lose with a Trump nomination? Nearly everything. Ronald Brownstein on how Trump is redefining the Republican Party — and his rivals are poorly positioned to stop him. Isn’t the point here that if a great political party is so vulnerable to fraud as obvious as Trump — it was unhealthy to start with? Trump is the GOP’s Frankenstein monster — now he’s strong enough to destroy the party (and more). A group of Republicans is moving quickly to research ballot-access requirements for independent candidates in case Trump wraps up the GOP nomination.

Twilight of the apparatchiks: It’s amazing to see the party’s elite utterly astonished by the success of a candidate who is just saying outright what they have consistently tried to convey with dog whistles. Republican race puts Donald Trump and Paul Ryan on collision course. Rubio and Trump now at war for the GOP’s future. Rubio and Cruz seek to destroy Trump as Republicans wage all-out war. Marco Rubio’s Trump attacks expose uncomfortable truths for the Right. Alexander Burns, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Martin go inside the Republican Party’s desperate mission to stop Donald Trump. How do you beat Donald Trump? You punch him — over and over. Sam Stein on how the Republican Party has failed to dig up dirt on Donald Trump: GOP operatives are alarmed, Democrats are astonished. How come we haven’t heard from all the people Trump has cheated? To fight critics, Donald Trump aims to instill fear in 140-character doses.

Republicans are dicks and Donald Trump is their daddy. The real reason Donald Trump is winning: No one thought it was possible. Wall of GOP resistance to Trump begins to crack: Christie wasn’t the first mainstream Republican to jump — he won’t be the last. Alex Balk on the Trump endorsement: “So, yeah, sure, why not, let’s have Donald Trump as the GOP nominee”. This is how Donald Trump takes over: The Republican Party is screwed.

Whom will you blame for President Trump? David Lauter, Michael Finnegan and Noah Bierman on what a Donald Trump presidency might actually look like. Donald Trump just declared his intent to destroy American democracy. Former CIA director Michael Hayden: Armed forces would ignore Trump.

Danielle Allen on how Trump’s candidacy is already damaging America. Just how stupid are we? Rick Shenkman on facing the truth about Donald Trump’s America. Alex Seitz-Wald and Benjy Sarlin on why Democrats fear Donald Trump. Trump may be the only force in American politics able to make Clinton into a uniter and not a divider.