President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court Wednesday underscores how closely the Republican Party’s future influence over every lever of federal power is now bound to the volatile instincts of Donald J. Trump. …
The risks to the GOP if Trump wins its nomination but then falters are rapidly compounding. Senate races increasingly follow presidential results, and with Republicans defending seven Senate seats this year in states that twice backed Obama, a Trump defeat could easily cost the GOP the upper chamber. And that, in turn, would provide Democrats a free hand to reshape the Supreme Court—even if Senate Republicans maintain their blockade this year against Garland.
But the greatest risk, especially after Trump’s combative response to the violence surrounding his campaign, is that as the Republican nominee he could define it as the party of white backlash in the eyes of the growing Millennial and minority populations. CONT.
Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic