"I was unfortunate to be stuck in a situation today where I had to endure some talk radio."

I feel your pain. Talk radio much of the time, political talk radio in particular, is about as enlightening as hanging out at the monkey cage at the zoo...but the monkey cage is much more fun.

"The squawk today was "Trump's the presumptive nominee and we have a common enemy...says it like it is...brought in new voters...block another Obama term...bring the base together...rally around our candidate" And some of this was coming from sitting congressmen."

Yes, this would be the expected response right now with Trump crushing Cruz in Indiana the mathematical possibility of Ted Cruz winning the nomination has been eliminated. This on top of the fact that in the states remaining to vote Cruz has no possibility of picking up any ground. He's done, which is wonderful because he is truly a freak. Kasich is only still around because the RNC begged him to stay in because they could not stand the idea of the voice of the Republican party being Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Kasich though has admitted he has been out of the race since New Hampshire...when he prophetically told some reporters nobody on the Republican ticket was going to beat Trump. Despite the fact that Cruz was the only guy that mounted any sort of challenge to Trump the RNC never backed him and instead went down the line of other guys on their ticket. It was a pathetic thing to watch. Great fun I'm sure if you dislike Republicans. Cruz can't even gain enough delegates to present a case for a contested convention. Dead in the water. At present I think the DNC could run a lamp, an ice cream cone, or a stuffed animal and still win the presidency. And they know it.

Although for fun Fox News is presenting a poll which shows Trump beating Hillary in a general election by two points...a lead they hilariously speculate will mount. This is utter bullshit. No people of color, few women, and only some Republicans will vote for him. He has as much of a chance to win the presidency as we have of winning the lottery on the same day. He's a fun and entertaining primary candidate and he can win against a group of loser Republicans in a primary race but in a general election the numbers are hugely against him. That's reality.

Do I fear Donald Trump? No way. In reality he has done us all a giant favor by exposing how stupid and ridiculous this election process has been. In fact I have composed a thank you letter to him for when this is all done. He may get a laugh out of it or he may put me on his enemy list forever. Primarily watching him run has been like watching a movie where Rodney Dangerfield runs for president. Ridiculous, outrageous, stupid, vulgar, often pretty damn funny, and in the end just a waste of time except for the laughs. Although he did accomplish something...he has forced the Republican party to have to seriously think about its future and if they actually have one.

"So Reg - what you propose is happening is not happening. It just isn't."

Well, I have been known to hallucinate and probably need psychological help. I am off my meds so all bets are off.

"The republican establishment is not aiding in the propping up of a straw(wo)man just to burn her down."

Hhmmm...well, as dumb as they look right now and they have misjudged their voters at every turn, made one wrong move after another during this primary process, backed everybody they could outside of Zippy the Clown, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, and Lindsey Graham could really just be considering switching to the Democratic party and is totally alone in all the detrimental comments he has made about Trump and Cruz (though many other establishment Republicans have made these kinds of comments as well), and despite the fact they have run their whole side of the process like they were putting on an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus...to the extent that I would be totally embarrassed beyond belief to call myself a Republican...well...maybe you are right and they did not think any of this through, they really believe they have a "winner" in Trump, they love that poll Fox News is promoting, and I am giving them way too much credit actually believing there may be some Republicans with an IQ above 65...maybe you are right and they are just playing with us when they say Hillary is pretty much a sure thing to be the next president.

I mean I guess Deep Throat could still be right...these just are not very bright guys.

"They're in it to win with Trump."

Well, they did all they could to sink him. Openly hate him, unless you are that fat stupid bastard Chris Christie or one of our great minds like Sarah Palin or Mike Tyson who think Trump is the next Ronald Reagan or Attila the Hun...I've lost track of what it is they enjoy about him...so yes, they are in it with Trump...mainly because their voters seem to hate Republicans as much as angry left wing animal rights supporting lesbians that missed their morning triple espresso and just discovered their girlfriend cheated on them with a man. I mean aside from that...it's going wonderfully for the Republicans.

"If Hillary wins, the ACA will stick around for another (at least) 4 years and may be expanded if Trump firebombs the down ticket republicans."

So, you are admitting that you know Trump is bad for the Republican party but you don't think the Republicans know that Trump is bad for the Republican party? You don't think they realize that him being their candidate is bad for all Republicans running for office and him being their candidate has only increased anger and hatred toward people in their party? You think only Democrats grasped that fact?

"She'll surely pick a couple SC judges. And the ideology of the court will change with those picks and maybe Citizens United can be wiped away for good."

You do know that the Clintons love Citizens United, have used all the bullshit loopholes and created rotten slimy deals with 33 states to cheat their way into donors being allowed to give their campaign over a million dollars per person rather than the cap of $10,000 to $33,000...I mean this is part of how they have amassed the money they have and without Citizens United they would have far less funds than they do and be weaker candidates than they are. Sure, they may do something to change it once Hillary has won her second term but until then...Citizens United is the balls! Yes, she will pick some judges. Frankly, it seems to make little sense for the Republicans to block Obama's pick right now because they actually like his choice...which is why Obama picked him. Yes, she is likely to not fuck the ACA up too badly and certainly not abolish it the way a Republican would...but I would not count on her to fix anything.

"These are things the establishment republicans aren't looking forward to no matter how bad they make Hillary look."

The establishment Republicans know that their chances of picking a judge are slim to none and they know as long as they have the House and Senate the ACA is really no big deal to them. They know they are not running anybody for president this year that can get elected.