The Republican Party has something much bigger than a Donald Trump problem

It has a voter problem

From real estate tycoon to presidential nominee
(Image credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

The Republican primary season ended precisely as one would expect — with the presumptive nominee sweeping all five of the states that voted. But in other respects, the outcome was just as surreal as everything that preceded it in this extraordinary political year.

While voters were lining up in five states to cast ballots in favor of Donald Trump, Republican senators were lining up to denounce him for his string of blatantly racist comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk — all four have now spoken out against Trump, joining Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who spent May as the lone senator who refused to join his fellow Republicans in embracing him. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have been more muted in their criticism, but they, too, appear shaken by the need to distance themselves from the poisonous effluence emanating from the mouth and Twitter account of the party's presumptive nominee.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.