If Trump is dropped...

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Why in hell would he willingly drop out?

1. He just doesn't have it in him and I think he knows it (hence all the smoke signals for help, in the form of atrocious behavior)
2. Because he can extract a pound of flesh from the GOP and its donors (Koch brothers, how would you like to fund a major development in NYC? )
3. Because he is genuinely afraid that if he continues to run (and fails), he would be aggressively sued, blacklisted and destroyed.

I disagree with this logic. I think Trump would rather lose, claim the election was rigged (as he is already claiming it will be), and hold on to his most slavishly devoted loyalists by fighting to the bitter end, than drop out and risk losing his cult-like following. His brand is already irreparably damaged with the broader public, his best remaining option is to continue carving out a niche for himself on the far right.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Here's a thing I think a lot of people are forgetting here: it's still three months until the election. I could maybe see Trump being persuaded to drop out if it were early October and he was consistently down by double digits (by which time, of course, it would be too late to get him off the ballot in probably every state, so the point is moot) and didn't think he could recover. But that isn't where we are right now. Just a week ago there were polls showing him tied or even narrowly in the lead nationally. How do you convince him that things are hopeless now when they didn't seem to be hopeless then? Particularly when he is someone who has no sense of how elections are won and lost since he has never been a candidate before?

I don't see that happening, at least not at this point. If he's down 20 points at the end of the month, sure, maybe, but short of that, I don't see the argument that can get through to him.