Republicans risk guilt by association with Trump’s racist diatribes. Whereas some Toronto mayoral candidates could play on Ford’s turf of fiscal miserliness, for a Republican candidate to stray too far down the rabbit’s hole of border control risks the GOP the general election. Sure, a Republican who goes after the same xenophobes as Trump might gain a few points in some conservative primaries and caucuses, but it’s almost a truism that a Republican cannot win the White House without increasing Hispanic (and other minority) support. Matching Trump’s hysteria, even in a slightly more nuanced way, risks being a Pyrrhic victory.

Republicans have no idea how to handle Trump. There’s only one way – make him a laughingstock