For a while, it appeared that most of the other Republican presidential candidates would stick to a mainly unspoken strategy of ignoring Donald Trump and media questions about his inflammatory comments. Jeb Bush openly declared that he’d have no more comment on Trump, only to return to the subject on his own. This morning in an interview with NBC’s Today show, Lindsey Graham turned his guns on Trump as well, warning that he would be “a wrecking ball” for the Republican Party — which might actually sound like an endorsement for some voters frustrated with the party’s progress in stymieing Barack Obama’s agenda:

“He’s riding a wave of just outlandish behavior that there are some people in the Republican Party like hearing,” the South Carolina senator said Wednesday on TODAY about Trump, who has made broad characterization of Mexicans as rapists and drug dealers. “I think the overwhelming majority of Republicans don’t like that rhetoric.” …

Graham criticized Trump for making blanket statements and coming up with proposals like charging the Mexican government $100,000 for every immigrant that crosses the border into the United States.

“We live in the most complicated dangerous times in the world, and he’s a wrecking ball when it comes to policy,” he said. “And the way he’s engaged the public is hurting the Republican Party at a time when we have a chance to do better.”

Look, I’m no fan of Trump or his demagoguery, but the notion prevailing among the fainting class that Trump will wreck the GOP is simply ludicrous. First, it’s doubtful that he’ll be around for very long; he polled better four years ago and simply ran out the string on self-promotion, in a field that had much less potential than the one emerging for the 2016 cycle. He’s been posing as a potential candidate since at least 1999, and has yet to put a serious campaign together despite his vast financial advantages. (The team he does have seems pretty amateurish at the moment, which suggests that there hasn’t been much investment in talent.)

Even if he stays for the debates, the other candidates will have the opportunity to poke holes in these pronouncements or challenge Trump to explain the many flip-flops in his public record, and they’ll have an equal footing to do so in the debates, too. Candidates like Graham and Bush should be salivating for those opportunities, as well as a chance to leverage Trump for their own aims, as I wrote yesterday at The Week:

Republican anxiety seems a bit overblown, at least at this stage. There are significant differences between Trump and the media problems cited by some analysts, and some potential upside — if Republican candidates can leverage Trump’s bluster.

First, Trump is one candidate among many, and it’s very early in a primary cycle that hasn’t yet seen its first debate. We are still six months away from a binding vote. The candidates who created embarrassment for Republicans in 2010 and 2012 did so after winning nominations in the primaries. That allowed the media to portray them, with some justification, as endorsed representatives of the party as a whole.

The media can’t make that argument with Trump. He has only been a Republican for a few years, and more to the point, Trump has never won office — as a Republican or anything else. He hasn’t even run for office before now, although he has positioned himself for a presidential run since at least 1999, when he proclaimed himself “very pro-choice.” In fact,Trump has shifted positions so often on so many issues — immigration included, from just three years ago — that there is some question whether Trump is representing himself honestly. …

Having Trump playing the reckless loudmouth might actually work in the GOP’s favor. Trump allows all of the other candidates to appear more statesmanlike by comparison, even if the specific policies they favor closely mirror Trump’s. It could, if handled deftly enough, show people that Republicans who have actual track records in the party provide rational leadership. It may not inspire the same voters that Trump does, but the contrast may well help the GOP make gains among independents and centrists in a general election. If nothing else, this will give the more serious candidates a good crucible for handling the media in a general election.

Trump may grate on Republican nerves, but he’s in no position to damage anyone but himself. Rather than continue handwringing over his presence on the campaign trail, Republicans would do better to improve their standing among voters so that they no longer look to demagogues to get the attention of their party.

Graham, Bush, and the rest of the field need to worry less about Trump and more about talking to the issues to which voters respond in Trump. It’s too early for freaking out.