Let’s roll out a few notions about what could happen to Donald J. Trump’s crumbling presidential candidacy.
Here’s what we know:
* Trump was caught on tape saying some unbelievable, hideous and profane things about women. We’ve all heard the tape.
* Many Republicans in both houses of Congress are calling for Trump to step down, to quit as their party’s presidential nominee. I’m waiting, however, for my own congressman — Republican Mac Thornberry — to issue a statement of any kind regarding his party nominee’s conduct.
* House Speaker Paul Ryan was going to appear with Trump at a campaign rally in Wisconsin, then he disinvited the nominee.
* Trump has issued a Twitter statement that vows he “never” will quit the race, that he will not let his supporters down.
* Polling after the first “debate” with Democratic nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton has shown Trump slipping dramatically; the revelation revealed in this horrific audio recording are sure to accelerate the polling free fall.
I refer occasionally to my trick knee. It’s acting up this afternoon just a bit and it’s telling me something I thought I’d never hear.
It’s telling me that the probability of a Trump withdrawal is increasing. How do I know this? I don’t.
The pressure is building from within the Republican Party. Key Democrats don’t want Trump to pull out; they see him as their ticket not only to retaining the White House, but getting control of the Senate and possibly making serious inroads in trimming the GOP majority in the House of Reps.
That’s what is driving the Republican big wigs to persuade Trump to pull out.
He’s not going to be elected president. Indeed, he well now could lose the race in a huge fashion on Nov. 8. The bigger the margin of victory for Clinton, the greater chances of a Senate flip back to Democratic control.
Am I predicting a Trump withdrawal? No. I’m out of the predicting game, remember?
But if this guy has any sense — at all — of the disaster that awaits him and the party he only recently adopted as his own, then he ought to rethink that pledge to “never drop out” of the campaign.
In fact, when a politician is forced to say he’ll never do something, then we know he’s at least thinking about it.