So I think it’s possible voters have hit their pain threshold and generate enough heat to keep the Trump flame burning for a long time. More likely than not, Trump actually does go the distance, probably not getting the nomination, but gathering enough delegates that he has to be reckoned with at the convention.

Or, how about this wild scenario: Trump actually starts to get enough delegates to win the nomination. Then, irony of ironies, rather than Trump running as a third party, the GOP establishment decides to pull a Roosevelt, and recreates the Republican Party under an independent banner.

And (1) because all the candidates currently running pledged at the main-stage debate to support the nominee of the GOP (though certainly not binding), and (2) because it would difficult and messy to choose among the Republicans running, and (3) because those running would be out of money, the obvious choice to step in and save the day as the independent candidate would be—drum roll—Mitt Romney.