BUT McGOVERN LOST:

[T]he governing wing of the party was fully aware that Trump was not to be trusted with the levers of power. In January of last year, National Review devoted an entire issue to a symposium where 22 prominent Republicans and conservatives detailed their militant opposition to the candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry--who is now Trump's energy secretary--called "a cancer" on the American political system. Until his nomination was all but assured, Trump had the backing of a lone Republican senator, Sessions (who is now his embattled attorney general).

More broadly, the whole idea of a disparate party coming together at a convention was, for decades, rooted in the "vetting" process; those experienced in the mechanics of politics and governments would decide which of the candidates were best equipped to win an election and carry out the party's agenda in Washington. It's beyond obvious that in the decades since primaries replaced power brokers as the delegate-selecting process, this role has attenuated. But it survives today as an "In-Case-Of-Emergency-Break-Glass" tool. And the question is: Why didn't the Republican Party employ it?

Explanations have ranged from the fragmented nature of the opposition--no early consensus choice as with George W. Bush in 2000--to the underestimation of Trump's appeal (the establishment candidates like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Christie spent their time and money attacking each other, while Ted Cruz was constantly praising Trump, hoping to ride in his wake when he collapsed).

But one often overlooked reason--and one for parties to remember if they hope to avoid future Trumps--is that the rules of the GOP greatly benefited Trump. The party allows winner-take-all primaries by congressional district or statewide-- which, in many states, hugely magnified Trump's delegate totals. Trump won 32 percent of the South Carolina vote but all 50 delegates. He won 46 percent of the Florida vote but all 99 delegates. He won 39 percent of the Illinois vote, but 80 percent of the 69 delegates. By contrast, Democrats--who abolished winner-take-all primaries more than 40 years ago, insist on a proportional system, much like parents cut the cake at a children's birthday party. The result is that an intensely motivated minority cannot seize the lion's share of delegates.

Another rule may well have stayed the hand of Republicans who saw in Trump an unacceptable nominee. The Democratic Party gives more than 700 people seats as "superdelegates." Every senator, every House member, every governor and a regiment of party officials are, by rule, unbound. They make up 15 percent of the total votes at the convention. Republicans only have some 150 "automatic" delegates--7 percent of the total--and they must vote the way their state's primary voters did. Thus, the whole idea of an emergency brake is almost nonexistent in the GOP.

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