The amateurish Trump camp then exploded with a series of news releases (they hired a rapid response staffer, so I suppose he needs to show he’s working) to remind voters Sanders said mean things about Clinton in the race. Shocking, I know. Whom is this aimed at? Surely the Sanders people are not going to be wooed by Trump’s nasty accusation that Sanders’s endorsement is now “Exhibit A in our rigged system — the Democrat Party is disenfranchising its voters to benefit the select and privileged few.” Calling Sanders a hypocrite is no way to make friends, but then, Trump cannot manage to solidify his GOP support as Clinton has now accomplished. Moreover, the Trump adviser’s description of Clinton — bizarrely accusing her of launching a war in Iraq (!?!) — should suffice to remind us that if conservative, internationalist, pro-free-trade Republicans are looking for a candidate, they’d do better with Clinton than Trump.

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It was ludicrous from the get-go to think Sanders’s followers — pro-gay rights, pro-choice, pro-immigration, pro-environmentalist, pro-nationalized health-care supporters, pro-Black Lives Matter — would rush to the candidate who has insulted women, minorities and the disabled, wants to build a wall and deport millions (while keeping all Muslims out) and has suggested women should be punished for abortions. Indeed, as my colleague Greg Sargent details, the pro-Clinton super PAC has a series of ads highlighting many of those stark differences (e.g., on minimum wage, education, immigration).

“Bernie voters will choose Trump” is another morsel of self-delusion the Trumpkins have been munching on as they head toward electoral defeat. Other lies they tell themselves — Trump will rewrite the map; Hispanics love him; he’ll self-fund; he hires the best people — have likewise evaporated. You wonder how they imagine he’s going to win the election. More important, you wonder if the Republican National Committee delegates seeing Trump’s electoral “plan” (if he ever had more than “go on TV”) fizzle will start wondering just how big a loss the GOP would suffer with Trump at the head of the ticket. Could they lose both houses of Congress? Would he drag down GOP gubernatorial candidates as well?