May 5, 2016 --

The New York Times ended its lead April 26 editorial by asserting that Donald J. Trump “can’t hide his unfitness for the presidency.” What is to be expected from the ABT/BNCE (anybody but Trump/ but not Cruz, either) forces if Trump is the Republican Party’s presidential nominee? LPR doubts that either The New York Times or its radio talk show counterpart Mark Levin will suddenly discover Trump’s fitness for the presidency.

LPR has a hunch that op-ed articles will appear in the Times, The Washington Post -- followed immediately with Sunday TV talk – urging the post-November 8 members of the Electoral College to place the interests of the nation ahead of any obligation to support the popular vote winner – should that winner be Donald J. Trump. Times columnist Timothy Egan, having referred to Trump as a “buffoon with a gold-plated selfie” in his April 23 column, can be expected to urge the members of the Electoral College, should Trump win the November 8 popular vote to “Vote your conscience, not for the buffoon.”

Frank Bruni, in his Times column, April 27, wrote: “Elections don’t settle disputes….They accelerate them….” Bruni went on to point to a trend “to delegitimize winners,” in an atmosphere of coarse political discourse. If Trump, as the Republican presidential nominee, wins the November 8 popular vote, LPR expects an immediate move to delegitimize Trump (and, of course, his voters) with the national political dispute continuing at warp speed, along the lines of: “Elections aren’t settled by the popular vote; just ask Al Gore.”