So this could be what some Republican voters, especially moderate-ish Republican voters, are thinking when they imagine that Trump is more electable than his more ideologically conservative rivals. And if the pundits are all proven wrong one more time and Trump makes a real race of it, this will be the reason why.
But we won’t be, because this logic lacks the cultural imagination required to see that Trump’s positions won’t get a hearing with groups that might find them appealing otherwise, precisely because they’re associated with, well, Donald Trump himself.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/douthat/2016/04/28/the-idea-of-trumps-electability/
From the same dude who thought Cruz would win the GOP nomination and said
Once that happens, would you really bet on Trump to beat Cruz in many of the evangelical-heavy Southern states that vote in late February or early March? In Cruz’s own state of Texas? That seems unlikely.
But disruption doesn’t get you to the 1,236 delegates required for the nomination. Loki does not rule in Asgard. And Donald Trump isn’t going to be the Republican nominee.
But if we treat New Hampshire as a plausible template for outcomes in those states, then Trump needs Rubio and Chris Christie and Jeb Bush to all stay in the race and for all of them to keep winning exactly 15 percent of the vote; then and only then would his 30 percent be sufficient to prevail.
That seems less than unlikely, indeed nearly impossible.
-What Douthat’s ignoring, of course, is that it’s not going to be Trump v. Non-Trump. It’s going to be Make America Great Again v. I’m With Her. And it’s easy to make Americans not be with Her. Bernie Sanders started winning national polls without even attacking Clinton. Imagine how bad the situation will be for her once the much-criticized Donald goes after Hillary’s full record. Trump has nowhere to go but up.
Trump’s massive primary support itself makes it clear millions are receptive to his message.
Boneheaded pundits will be boneheaded.
Against Jebel al-Lawz 
Amen – The Times should give you a gig. All of their conservative contributors are beyond dumb, Friedman, Brooks, Douthat…
Douthat’s predictions are almost always wrong. Friedman and Douthat are smart in their own ways -they just have a very strong tendency to be wrong. Sometimes, very and easily avoidably wrong. I never understood the point of Brooks.