"Republicans for Hillary" -- an idea whose time has come?

Mitt Romney hosted a big powwow retreat in a Utah resort for top Republican donors and strategists this weekend, and there was a lot of hand-wringing.   They can't come up with a third party candidate that is willing to commit political suicide.   Romney still says no -- but he also still says he cannot support Donald Trump, who would spark "trickle-down racism" and "trickle-down misogyny."

A lot of other top Republicans are disturbed by Trump's crassness, his political unreliablity, and his inability to win in November.   Even Mitch McConnell did not completely close the door on withdrawing his endorsement.  But frankly the Trump voters couldn't care less what Mitch McConnell does or says.

What will matter though is who will give money for a Trump campaign so they can mount a strategy that Paul Ryan is desperately trying to cobble together.   As I understand it, this would emphasize the Republican agenda that Congress will pass -- but they must have a Republican president to sign the legislation.    That seems to me a fool's errand, because it depends on Donald Trump becoming a mere figure-head doing others' bidding.   Donald Trump as Paul Ryan's puppet?   Lots of luck with that.

As to funding, the Kochs have already said no; they'll support down-ticket Republicans but nothing for Trump.   Given that this gathering was largely comprised of the defunct #NeverTrump movement as its core, most of the others felt pretty much the same.   They're not the only donors -- Sheldon Adelson has already pledged to support Trump.   But even he can't or won't do it alone.   Hillary Clinton begins the general election campaign with some $200,000,000 more than the Trump campaign.

The big news that came from this weekend powwow was made by the woman that TIME magazine once named on a short list of "Women Who Might Be President."  Meg Whitman is a former CEO of Hewlitt-Packard, and then of eBay, before she ran unsuccessfully for governor of California and then co-chaired Romney's 2012 finance committee.

Whitman told the assembled group that she's leaning toward supporting Hillary Clinton.  She hasn't made a final decision, because she wants to see who will be the VP nominee.   But in addition to that, two people who had been in these discussions told a reporter that the group took an informal poll during lunch -- and that those in the room split evenly between those who plan to support Trump and those who will support Clinton.

Think of that for a moment.  Just weeks before the presidential nominating conventions, a group of Republican leaders is split evenly over whether to support the Republican nominee or the Democratic nominee.   Now, admittedly, these are anti-Trump Republicans;  but, even so, that's pretty remarkable.

Wow !   This is truly a historic election.

Ralph