THE TRUMP TRAINWRECK

++The GOP dead-enders still want to leave their options open. Efforts will be made to unbind the delegates at the convention to produce another nominee. 

++Fred Malek, an old-time GOP operative,says that Trump will be $300 to $500 million down for the general election.

++Ed Rollins, who heads the TRUMP SUPER PAC,says Trump can not self-fund a general election campaign and he needs the resources of the RNC.

++For their part, the RNC doesn't even recognize that Trump is the nominee. The RNC is concerned that Trump taking their resources will deplete funds to struggling Republican office-holders. 

++Trump expects free publicity through the national networks. But observers just say he will only have the New York and California markets. The very population he is courting--the Rust Belt will be out of bounds.

++This week saw a slew of anti-Trump op-eds, the preponderance are those from conservatives and Republicans. 

++Trump spoke to the evangelicals and commentators said he behaved himself.  He read from a teleprompter and didn't lash out at Code Pink demonstrators disrupted the proceedings. But what does behave himself mean? He promised the evangelicals that all his court nominees--he released a list the previous week--are all anti-abortion. He vowed to "protect Christian-Americans". He reiterated his stance on immigration. He also used anti-gay codewords of saying he would protect "their freedom of religion."

++Michael Gerson, who simply will not give up in his criticism of Trump, wrote "Evangelicals may carry the mark of Trump." Gerson points to Trump's June 21 meeting with nearly 500 prominent evangelical Christians. They include Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, James Dobson and Ronnie Floyd of the Southern Baptist Convention. 

++In exchange for their support, Trump said in exchange for their endorsement ,he will appoint conservative Supreme Court justices and to lift restrictions on the political activities of tax exempt institutions. "We're going to take care of you." 

++Gerson says this is a particularly clear presentation of a long-term temptation (as old as the third temptation of Christ). The emperor, or king,or president offers to further the mission of the church.

++Gerson says these promises are not a sure bet. Trump is more likely to make more conservative selection than is Hillary Clinton. 

++Gerson argues that Support for Trump involves a massive ,disorienting shift, especially given the reputation of the religious right. "It is ,well,unexpected for the evange,locals to endorse a political figure who has engaged in creepy sex talk on the radio,boasted about his extramarital affairs,made a fortune from gambling and bragged about his endowment on national television."

++Evanglicals Are determining their public character--the way they are viewed by others and ultimately the way they view themselves. "They are identifying with a man who has fed ethnic tension for political gain;who has proposed systemic religious discrimination; who has dramatically undermined democratic values of civility and tolerance; who has advocated war crimes, including the killing of families of terrorists, who holds a highly sexualized view of power as dominance rather than seeing power as an instrument to advance moral ethics."

++"Trumpism,at its root,involves contempt for,and fear of,outsiders--refugees,undesirable migrants,Muslims,etc. By associating within his movement, evangelicals will bear,if not the mark of Cain,at least the mark of Trump."

++"We don't need a spiritual giant in the White House,says Dallas preacher Robert Jeffress, "We need a strong leader."

++Gerson asks what is "specifically Christian about this argument for an electable strongman."

++Gerson says the evangelicals are no longer serving a faith where "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."  This should be a time for principled dissent.