LA Times: “If Trump loses in November, the GOP may find itself in a worse position than in 2012. The party would have then lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. Given the increasing diversity of the electorate, some in the party would want to seek ways to distance the party from the nativism and bigotry that has been at the core of Trump’s appeals. But that faction would find itself opposed by a Trumpist wing of the party that sees white identity appeals as the key to the party’s success, and has been happy to tie its fate to Trump himself. It is notable how many prominent younger Republican leaders, including former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, and others, have repeatedly and very publicly lavished praise on Trump even as his popularity sinks.”

“Even if Biden wins, Trump is unlikely to go quietly. He is already trying to delegitimize a potential Biden victory, claiming that mail-in voting is rife with fraud (it’s not), suggesting the election needs to be postponed, and trying to limit funds for the U.S. Postal Service so that it might not be able to process all mailed ballots in time. He would probably spend much of a Biden presidency railing against the election, and possibly even setting the stage for his own 2024 comeback. The truth is, a sizable portion of Republican elected officials, political commentators and Trump voters have a great deal invested in the party’s current identity. With Trump not exiting the stage, few GOP leaders would press to conduct a ‘post-mortem’ of the 2020 election. In that way, the party is very different from the one that lost in 2012.”