“If I were a normal, old-time establishment Republican, I might have concerns,” Gingrich said, noting that Trump is “unstuffy,” heterodox on issues, and not wedded to the status quo. “But as a citizen, I think it’s very healthy to have this party get shaken up. On balance, you need somebody who is going to kick over the table—who has the energy, the drive, the nerve to insist we rethink everything from the ground up.” In his boldness and appeal to nontraditional constituencies, Trump, Gingrich said, “is a little bit like Jack Kemp, but so much bigger a figure.”

The last-ditch efforts to stop Trump poured millions of dollars into advertising the past couple of weeks—commercials that, Trump complained, aired during the golf tournament being broadcast from one of his courses. But the idea was dawning that it was too little, too late, and that it was time to face the new reality.

“There’s two ways to handle the Trump situation,” John Feehery, a D.C. lobbyist and former Republican congressional aide, told me. “You can contain the damage and try to unify. Or you can start a third party. I’m of the containment mindset.” As he spoke, a third-party effort was under way, with a group of conservatives planning a meeting in the next week to discuss the possibility. But that was not for Feehery, who preferred to look on the bright side.

“If it weren’t for all the idiotic and racist comments, he would be kind of a breath of fresh air,” Feehery said. “He’s someone who wants to get stuff done—a politician who’s not beholden to any kind of ideology, not beholden to special interests. I don’t think he is George Wallace in his heart of hearts. He’s not a strategic threat to the future of the republic. He’s just a buffoon and a political opportunist.”

Two of Trump’s former rivals, Chris Christie and Ben Carson, have gotten behind him, with Carson, in his endorsement last week, calling him “a very intelligent man who cares deeply about America.” He added, “There are two different Donald Trumps. There’s the one you see on the stage, and there’s the one who’s very cerebral, sits there and considers things very carefully…. That’s the Donald Trump that you’re going to see more and more of.”

That is the hope of some members of the much-derided Republican establishment, who say the time is drawing near for the party to unite around its standard-bearer.

“In the end, whoever the nominee is, the party will, to one degree or another, rally around him,” predicted Ron Kaufman, the longtime lobbyist and Republican National Committee stalwart. Kaufman supported Jeb Bush this year and was a close adviser to Mitt Romney, who has recently come out strongly against Trump and what he represents. But Kaufman saw no need for such hysterics. People walked out of the convention on Ford in ’76 and Reagan in ’80, he said, but they were the exceptions.