Sept. 03--The Republican Party has just signed Donald Trump to a long-term deal guaranteeing that America's most popular reality show -- "Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign" -- will continue indefinitely.
Worried the impulsive real estate mogul might splinter off and make a third-party run for president, which would all but scuttle the GOP's chances of winning back the White House, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus sauntered over to Trump Tower in New York City today with a pledge for Trump to sign.
The pledge, which is slightly less legally binding than me saying "Hey, gimme twenty bucks and I'll pay you back never," is a promise that Trump will not run as a third-party candidate and that he will support whoever winds up winning the GOP presidential nomination. Trump signed it and then held a press conference in which he boasted about his huge lead in the polls and his huge ideas and how he's going to make America great again by being hugely good at everything.
"I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party and the conservative principles for which it stands," he said.
The GOP probably had little choice but to squeeze some kind of agreement like this out of Trump, the rogue reality TV candidate who is defying political logic and outpacing all of his Republican competitors by double digits in most polls. The threat of him running as an independent or a write-in candidate was too great.
But having him sign this pledge is also a formal endorsement of Trump as a Republican Party member in good standing. And the man who revived the term "anchor baby" may be the anchor that drags the GOP down.
Trump is no longer an outlier. He can no longer be looked at as a flash-in-the-pan who doesn't represent the values of the Republican Party. He's now part of them, and even if he loses the nomination, he will wind up endorsing the winning nominee. (Unless he completely defies the pledge, which is certainly a possibility.)
Most reasonable estimates, including some from pollsters working with current GOP candidates, say that the Republican nominee will need to win at least 40 percent of the Latino vote to win the 2016 election. A recent Gallup poll found that Trump's net favorable score among Hispanic voters is -51, which is astonishing when you consider the next-most-unpopular Republican among Hispanics -- Ted Cruz -- had a net favorable score of only -7.
I don't think Jeb Bush, should he win the nomination, is going to be too excited about having Trump out voicing support for him in the general election. No candidate with a prayer of winning enough Latino voters over is going to want Trump within 100 miles of them.
Too bad. Trump's part of the gang now.
GOP leaders might have cut off the dangerous possibility of the stubborn billionaire breaking off on his own. But in doing so they effectively invited their crazy uncle over for Thanksgiving, guaranteeing that everyone's going to be on edge during dinner.
rhuppke@tribpub.com
