GOP elite charts four paths to destroy Trump

STACK THE DECK. Republicans in South Carolina are requiring that, for candidates to qualify for the state’s important early primary, they must pledge to support the eventual party nominee and not run as an independent. Other state Republican parties are considering a similar move. This is aimed squarely at making the primaries difficult for Trump.

It’s also a likely loser. First, if challenged in court, the requirement may not stand. Further, the increasingly confident Trump is now signaling that he might agree to such terms. Yet he could always change his mind after the fact. As the fabled governor of Louisiana, Earl Long, replied when asked what he would tell people after abandoning a campaign pledge: “Tell them I lied.”