Reagan, to all appearances, left his Vice Presidential selection until long after his own nomination as clinched. After Reagan’s selection came the big drama as rumors circulated of different possible nominees.

It was a fake drama. Reagan was not a political novice.

So, when his own nomination was sure and no one dared to call him on it, Reagan chose the very symbol of the Loser Left, George Bush, as his running mate. Conservatives dared not say that he was just letting the drama play out.

Gee whiz! Whoda thunk it?

Well, I would, for one. Reagan guaranteed the establishment Republicans that he would only be a short interruption of the iron rule establishment Republicans had held over the Party since 1940.

After he got crushed in the 1964 election, Goldwater called and gave the Party back to the establishmentarians, who had only been out of power for a few months.

Establishment types are pros.  They are in for the long run.

To conservatives, who have all the long-term instincts of a teenager, the second place on the 1980 ticket was nothing.

To the establishment, it was assurance that they could have the Party back after Reagan.

I can’t say for sure, but if politics is still politics, as soon as Trump has clenched the nomination, the establishment will begin what we euphemistically referred to as “hard bargaining”.

That means a last ditch fight for your life.

In 1989, the Bush appointees who had “cleared out the Reaganists” got applause from Republican audiences.

The Republican moderate continued to wreck the Party’s chances at election until Newt Gingrich brought on the conservative revolution of 1994.

Like pro-whites, conservatives kept losing until the power was wrenched from their hands AGAIN.

It is hard to believe Trump would be a sellout, but nobody would admit publicly that Reagan was.

But there is hope.  Unlike Reagan, Trump did not come up inside the Party machinery. He may continue to be his own man.

Goldwater gave the Party back the first chance he got while Republicans for Johnson knives were still sticking out of his back. As one guy put it, “conservatives come to the convention every four years, get kicked in the teeth, and come up smiling.”

Maybe Trump won’t smile.

And maybe the Democrats of 2016 will repeat what Democrats did in 1860: split their majority vote among different Democratic parties.

And maybe establishmentarians will also try their own Party.

In that case, even the most devoted establishmentarians will not produce anything Trump can sell out to.

Maybe they will form their own hissy fit little Party. Even the most groveling conservative wont be able to find anything for Trump to sell out to.