Consider how this sort of thing will be taken if Gingrich actually does get the vice-presidential nod or some other prominent position in the administration. The message is, “Sure, Trump is crazy and shoots off his mouth off and makes these absurdly amateur mistakes. But he’ll be surrounded by responsible adults like me who will walk everything back and tamp it down and keep it from becoming a problem.” From which we could draw the further inference, “So maybe you should just come to me first, bypass the flashy, loudmouthed figurehead, and go straight to the people who actually runs things.”

Gingrich is running to be what Democrats thought Dick Cheney was for George W. Bush. He is positioning himself, or someone like himself, as the power behind the throne…

In other words, the concept of an establishment shadow presidency with Trump as its figurehead is already central to the Republican Party leadership’s acceptance of him as their candidate. It’s certainly central to the personal ambitions of many of the people now attaching themselves to his campaign.