Regarding Donald Trump

Many Republicans seem to be rallying to Donald Trump.  He’s leading in several polls.

They react positively — as they previously did with Governor Chris Christie — to what they perceive as his blunt-talking honesty and his fearless willingness to address sacred cows.

And there’s something to be said for such qualities.

But Mr. Trump is an arrogant and disagreeable demagogue who isn’t remotely a genuine or consistent conservative, his political commitments have been all over the map, his purported business and management skills may well be the stuff of legend in more than one sense, and his personal life has been sensational in a bad sense.

I hope I’ve been clear enough about my views here.

If not, here’s another stab at it:

This man must not be the Republican nominee for the presidency of the United States.

And I doubt very much that he will be.

What I fear most is a self-financed third-party Trump candidacy that will effectively guarantee the election of Hillary Clinton.  That, I think, is reasonably probable.  When he fails to get the Republican nomination, if not before, he may well bolt the party — as he’s done before — out of sheer pique and ego.

I’m not a fan.