Well-respected constitutional scholar, Georgetown Law professor, and head of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution Randy E. Barnett makes the case for a third-party candidate if Donald Trump is the Republican nominee.

Barnett has long made the case against third parties, but in his view, Trump changes the dynamics and opportunity costs.

I have long vocally opposed third parties as irrational in our two-party system. They inevitably drain votes away from the major party closest to them, thereby benefiting the major party that is even worse. But strategies must adjust to circumstances. If Trump wins the GOP nominations, one of two things will happen, either of which would be disastrous for the Constitution and for the country.

He believes the norm doesn't hold true with Trump, however, because "millions of patriotic Americans who would ordinarily vote GOP — including most conservatives and all constitutionalists — will never vote for him."

If Trump wins, he's made clear he cares nothing for the constitutional constraints on the president, or on government generally. His ignorance of our republican Constitution — to match his ignorance of much else — and his strong-man approach to governance would make Trump's election a political cataclysm second only to Southern secession in its danger to our constitutional republic. For this reason, millions of patriotic Americans who would ordinarily vote GOP — including most conservatives and all constitutionalists — will never vote for him. Yet were he somehow to win without them — say by moving to the left of Hillary Clinton to capture the Sanders vote — a Trump presidency would doom America as an exceptional nation.

Furthermore, the media, which has been soft on Trump and given him generous air time, will no longer be so gentle.

Far more likely, however, once the Republican nomination is in his grasp, the media who have been irresponsibly reaping the ratings whirlwind will lay waste to Donald Trump in conjunction with the Democrats. His presidential campaign will be reduced to a few million die-hard Trumpies and little more.

Barnett's view is supported by data. According to Gallup, Trump "has a higher unfavorable rating than any candidate at any time during all of these previous election cycles." Numerous media breakdowns also show that cable news dedicates more time air time to Trump than other candidates, and sometimes more than all other candidates combined.

He suggests a third-party candidate could serve as "a lifeboat for anyone aboard the sinking GOP ship," adding, "They will desperately need another vessel they can support in good conscience."

"Parties die. The Whigs died because they could not bring themselves to stand against the Democratic Party that overwhelmingly supported or, at least, tolerated slavery in the South and its extension into the territories, thereby threatening the North. So a new Republican Party very quickly arose to replace it. Now the national GOP establishment's failure to listen to the people is on the verge of giving us Donald Trump. If it does, it deserves to be replaced by a party that puts the Constitution first and politics second."

You can read Barnett's full article at USA Today.