Will GOP Make Festivus Funny Again?

At Hot Air is a post offering hope that Donald Trump's sore loser act is finally wearing thin. Citing still-high, but eroding support for Trump among Republican-leaning voters, Salena Zito likens Trump's bellyaching to the "airing of grievances" every Festivus, the holiday invented by Frank Costanza of Seinfeld:

Voters also said they do deeply empathize with Trump over the unfairness of how they think he was treated by numerous institutions within the government and the press, but that should not be why they should vote for him.

They watch each interview and each rally and see a montage of an airing of the grievances, akin to the "Festivus" celebration on the TV show "Seinfeld," which is not the same man who once keenly understood that people were looking for an aspirational path for everyone to be part of.

That aspirational sense is what made it so brilliant for Trump to swipe Ronald Reagan's old "Make America Great Again" slogan.

Zito bases this contention on recent polling data and an account of a former Trump delegate who has soured on the ex-President.

How hopeful this proves will depend on how much of Trump's core support peels away and whether everyone else can coalesce around an acceptable alternative in time. Zito claims that "the share of Republican-leaning voters who said they would not support [Trump] under any circumstances has jumped from 16% in May to 23% now."

Trump has made much of the blind loyalty of his core supporters. If he's right about them and they are a large-enough chunk of the primary electorate, he will be the nominee. But if he repels enough people like Alex Anastasio, and his legal troubles whittle his support down some more, there could be an opening for a more sane candidate to emerge victorious.

If so, win or lose, the GOP will have a clear opportunity to move on from Trump.

-- CAV