The blowback Trump has gotten after his performance on Saturday night means that he has to threaten the Nuclear Option to get the GOP heavyweights (read: Ailes, Murdoch, Kochs, Friess, et. al) from calling and screaming at him for letting The Rubes have a peek behind the curtain at the cognitive dissonance at the heart of the modern GOP.

So yeah, this is increasingly looking like a total shitshow for the GOP - all the worst nightmares coming true. GOP candidates openly acknowledging the George W. Bush lied us into a disastrous war, and there were no Weapons Of Mass Destruction? (And oh, is the National Review ever crying tears over that one…)

Check.

Candidates talking about the rigged economic system and vowing vengeance on the Donor Class?

Check.

Third-party candidacy that guarantees a 49-state landslide and costs the GOP the Senate, House and multiple governorships?

Pending…

NEW: Trump on RNC says, “I signed a pledge, but it’s a double-edged pledge. As far as I’m concerned they’re in default of their pledge.”— Brad Mielke (@TheBradMielke) February 15, 2016

Trump’s toxic narcissism, coupled with the quotes from his supporters (i.e. “Split the party? I don’t give a shit. The Republican party should be split.” and this entire piece

“The Republican Party has never done anything for the working man like me, even though we’ve voted Republican for years,” said Leo Martin, a 62-year-old machinist from Newport, N.H., who attended Mr. Trump’s Claremont rally. “This election is the first in my life where we can change what it means to be a Republican.”