Suppose by the end of May the country had come to decide that Sanders was a Vermont novelty who would go the way of George McGovern (D), the South Dakota senator who ran for president in 1972, bringing youth to a rapture but able to win only the young and unformed and the state of Massachusetts. And the others decided that a president who promises us methods “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding” might find better work elsewhere, possibly in Hollywood. Or talk radio.

Americans would rush to stability, especially if stocks continue to plummet as they have been doing this past month. Bloomberg would be seen as the savior of America and he would be. But his presence in the race would offset the scales, particularly pulling from a more liberal crowd.

Conservatives would quickly seek an equal and opposite counterforce and, in a panic, seek out their best man. And that would be Romney, who, like Bloomberg, might be seen to have been waiting in the wings all along, waiting for the fevers to subside and the people to return to their better natures.

When Romney’s name was added to a poll by Suffolk University/The Boston Globe last November, he led other Republicans by a two-to-one margin. Trump lost a third of his support.

“Everyone I know is dissatisfied with the current field of choices,” says an old friend, retired from the State Department and a personal consultant these past 30 years.