Desperate...*

Addressing a luncheon of Republican governors and donors, Rove warned that Donald J. Trump’s nomination would be catastrophic, dooming the party. 

In dozens of interviews, elected officials, political strategists and donors described a frantic, last-ditch campaign to block Mr. Trump  and the agonizing reasons that many of them have become convinced it will fail. Behind the scenes, a desperate mission to save the party sputtered at every turn.

Despite all the forces arrayed against Mr. Trump, the party has been gripped by a nearly incapacitating leadership vacuum and a paralytic sense of indecision and despair, as he has won smashing victories in South Carolina and Nevada. Donors have dreaded the consequences of clashing with Mr. Trump directly. Elected officials have balked at attacking him out of concern that they might unintentionally fuel his populist revolt.   Republicans have lacked someone from outside the presidential race who could help set the terms of debate from afar.

The endorsement by Mr. Christie, a not unblemished but still highly regarded figure within the party’s elite, a former chairman of the Republican Governors Association, landed Friday with crippling force. It was by far the most important defection.

Opposing him fueled more anger and more success for Trump. So Let it Go James Bay . [written 3/15]