Trump fans should know that the #NeverTrump Republicans who wrote to me are not rejecting you, or even your issues. They are rejecting Donald J. Trump, because they think he is a bad person, so incompetent, aggressive and shamelessly unprincipled that they do not trust him with the Oval Office, or the helm of their party. You could have chosen any other standard bearer to talk about immigration and trade and national security, and if that person had won the nomination, most of these #NeverTrump types would have fallen in line and voted for the nominee, allowing you a good chance at the White House in 2016.

You may be supporting him on the immigration or trade issue. But if party fracture costs Republicans the general election, you will have lost not because you supported him on immigration, but because you supported him.

The Trump fans are at least a little bit right in two of their explanations about Trump abstainers. Some who shout “#NeverTrump” today probably will vote for him, when it comes down to it in November. And some #NeverTrump Republicans are afraid to stand with him because they’ll be painted with the same brush as the KKK.