Which would be better for the GOP?

[Human]

Option 1. Donald Trump supporters would stay home at record levels (thus ensuring a Hillary landslide) if option 2 happened.

[CivicParticipant]

Nominating Lyin Ted lol

[Sic Semper Tyrannis]

Accepting the loss and continuing to blast away midterms.

[evergreenarbor]

Option 1. Option 2 would split the party and guarantee a Hillary landslide.

[BoJack Horseman]

Option 1. Trump gets killed, and with Hillary in charge, the 2018 midterm is an even bigger disaster than 1994, 2010, and 2014 combined.

[Fuzzy Bear]

If the GOP dumped Trump for Mitt Romney or someone like that it MIGHT be better.  But if they dumped Trump for Lyin' Ted Cruz, it would replace one lightning rod for a less popular one.

[For Trump, everything. For immigrants, the law]

If they nominate Trump, they can start working toward 2018, and try to limit their losses in the senate and house by trying to distance themselves from Trump. If they nominate Cruz, they'll get absolutely crushed.

[andrew_c]

Option 1. This would hurt the GOP for some time, but they can recover.  The GOP won't be able to recover for decades from Option 2.

[Rand]

As one of my Republican friends told me, Trump supporters don't want him to fix the system, they want him to break it so that it can be completely rebuilt. If he wins he will destroy America--if he loses he will have seriously damaged the Republican brand to the point that they spend years putting themselves back together. The Republican party has hit an all time low nominating the host of The Apprentice who had a cameo on The Nanny as their candidate for president, so it's all uphill for them after he loses on November 8th. The Republican Party will be reborn once they lose a third and/or fourth consecutive election to a Democrat and will be a much more attractive political party than they were before the sewer backed up and spewed Trump all over this country.