Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Republican Establishment Declares 'War' on Donald Trump by William Gallo The Conservative Political Action Conference in the United States is not exactly the kind of place you expect to find supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Yet if you bring up Donald Trump, it's amazing how easy it is to get Republican activists to say nice things about her. "Hillary, for all of her many, many, many flaws, is a mature adult with government experience," says Brad Matthews from Brookville, Maryland. "Donald Trump has no government experience. He has no firm beliefs." Trump, in Matthews' estimation, is "too dangerous" to be president. "If it's him versus Hillary, I don't know if I'd vote. That's just honestly a choice I don't want to have to make." John McAdams traveled all the way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to attend CPAC but would "probably stay home" if he were forced to choose between Trump and Clinton in the general election. "It's hell either way. I don't much like Hillary, but she's not so wildly inconsistent like Trump. At least you know what you're getting." "I can't stand him, personally," says Arianna Smith from Morgantown, West Virginia. "I think he's insane, to be quite honest. I don't like him at all." Smith says she is repulsed at "almost every word that comes out of the man's mouth," and she sees no scenario in which she would ever vote for him. "Quite frankly, I'm going to go third party if he gets the nomination." The angry anti-Trump sentiment on display this week at the annual CPAC conference underscores the deep divide that has emerged within the Republican Party over Trump, the crass New York billionaire who despite the uproar within some conservative circles appears to be well on his way toward winning the party's nomination for president. Republican 'civil war' The split within the Republican Party over Trump has become dire. It has moved far beyond the usual disagreement that takes place in most primary elections, when party leaders typically bicker for several months before uniting behind a single candidate. It now appears increasingly unlikely that the party will ever fall in line behind Trump, according to Republican Party operatives and analysts. "I don't think the Republican Party will coalesce behind Donald Trump," Mickey Edwards, a former member of the Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives, told VOA. "Even if he manages to win the nomination, there are going to be an awful lot of Republicans that don't support him. He may be walking around with the official title, but most of the Republicans I know aren't going to support him." Comments like that have sparked talk of a "civil war" within Republican ranks. The speculation became more rampant this week after Mitt Romney, the party's last presidential nominee lashed out at Trump, calling him a "phony" and "fraud" who is "playing the members of the American public for suckers." Another Republican elder and former party nominee, Senator John McCain, this week referred to Trump as "uninformed" and "dangerous." If the divide over Trump isn't resolved soon, there could be a major realignment within the Republican Party, according to Edwards, who is seen as a founding father of modern conservative politics in the U.S. But he insists that would be a small price to pay to keep Trump out of the White House. "I think most of us are more concerned about the United States than we are the party. The party is a political club. Our concern is about the country." Asked how he thinks Trump would govern as president, Edwards replied: "How do I think Mickey Mouse would govern if he were president? He's completely unpredictable. He's really not smart enough to be president. Who knows where he is. He's been all over the place on almost everything. And he seems to mostly say things just to get a rise out of people. I've never known a candidate of either party who was less predictable." 'Worst demagogue' Trump's unpredictability is one of the factors that led Eliot Cohen, a former top State Department official under president George W. Bush, to help come up with a strongly worded anti-Trump petition (http://warontherocks.com/2016/03/open-letter-on-donald-trump-from-gop- national-security-leaders/) that has so far been signed by over 100 top conservative foreign policy experts. "This is the worst demagogue in the United States in my lifetime," Cohen, now a professor at Johns Hopkins University, told VOA. "I think he would be a disaster for the United States of America. I think he would be a disaster for the world. He is clearly not someone who is committed to the Constitution of the United States. It's not even clear to me that he understands it." "That's why you've seen a lot of people who come from a broad spectrum of backgrounds who are just saying look, there's no way we can ever - ever - possibly support this man or vote for him or endorse him or anything. A consensus of people who are serious about foreign policy in the Republican Party view this man as anathema." Trump expanding base? But if a segment of Republicans is uniting against Trump, there are also many outside the party's traditional base who are attracted to him. That's because many voters admire the former reality television star, not because of his policy positions, but because of his bombastic personality and outsider persona, says David Merritt with Luntz Global Partners, the communications group run by conservative pollster Frank Luntz. "He in their minds is a reflection of their anger. He's saying things they wish to God they could say to their senator or their member of Congress," Merritt said in an interview with VOA. "It's not ideology. It's more personality and what he represents rather than what he is proposing." Merritt, whose organization regularly brings groups of voters together to examine their political opinions, estimates that between 15 and 20 percent of Trump's support is coming from disaffected Democrats and Independents. "In our focus groups, we get a handful of Democrats who Donald Trump will be their first choice and Hillary Clinton will be their second choice. Or Donald Trump will be their first choice and Bernie Sanders will be their second choice. So Trump is absolutely correct in that he is pulling in people that aren't from the traditional Republican base." But does the party want to risk those potential gains, even if it means siding with a candidate who many see as explicitly racist and who has repeatedly and unapologetically offended diverse groups of people, including African Americans, Mexicans, women and disabled people? At this point, it isn't clear, but many are warning that the controversy could jeopardize Republicans' control of Congress. "It could very well impact the Senate," says Merritt, pointing out that nearly two dozen Senate Republicans are up for reelection this November compared to only 10 for the Democrats. Many Republicans remain at least publicly optimistic, expressing confidence the party will be able to derail Trump before he clinches the nomination. "American politics does have this slam-bang quality to it," says Cohen, the ex-State Department official. "But in the long run the United States has always come through. We always come to our senses." __________________________________________________________________ [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/trump-republican-split/3220922.html References 1. http://www.voanews.com/content/trump-republican-split/3220922.html