, Columnist
Republican Faithful Have a Third-Party Option, Too
What if the Grand Old Party doesn't like the popular choice? Answer: Be like Ike.
Ike could whip GOP into shape.
Photographer: Moore/Fox Photos/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Disillusionment with establishment politics has long been a staple of Republican politics. In the Obama years, it gave us the Tea Party and the rebellious House caucus that shut down the government. In this climate, the popularity of outsider presidential candidates doesn't seem unnatural.
But could we be hearing something different now, the restless stirrings from insiders? Should Donald Trump, in particular, remain a force, a crisis could come in which "the Republican establishment completely freaks out," Mark McKinnon, a strategist who has advised both George W. Bush and John McCain, said on NPR recently.