If Trump wins, they’ll have run afoul of the new leader of the free world (not to mention their party) — a man who loves to hold a grudge. They will be faced with either trying to make amends or continuing to hold out, believing Trump will be a disaster as president — even as a plurality of the country will have given him their go-ahead.
And if Trump loses, it could be narrow enough that they will be blamed — incessantly — for not getting behind their party’s nominee, allegedly costing him the presidency. It’s true that about 40-50 percent of the GOP is supporting Trump pretty halfheartedly — mostly just because he’s not Clinton — but that leaves the other half-plus that is very pro-Trump and liable to harbor plenty of hard feelings if it looks like he was this close to the presidency, and members of his own party kept him from the Oval Office.
In reality, it may not have truly mattered that some in the GOP establishment didn’t get behind Trump. As mentioned above, the GOP base is about as united as the Democratic base, and the 8 percent of Republican-leaning voters who are voting for Clinton is on-par with the 7 percent of Democratic-leaning voters who support Trump.
The mere fact that the NeverTrump movement has no real base is a testament to the fact that it probably isn’t costing Trump the presidency, even if he loses.
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