Most damaging to the GOP

[Angel of Death]

Try not just to have November in mind here.

[yankeesfan]

Nominating Trump and emboldening his supporters would be more damaging (sane)

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

If the party establishment steals the nomination from TRUMP they'll have no excuse for losing the Presidency and the Senate.

[ScottieF]

I'm not even convinced Cruz would be a stronger GE candidate than Trump if he was nominated outright, so the havoc that would be caused by nominating him at a brokered convention would almost certainly be a more damaging course of action.

[Phony Moderate]

Nominating Trump and emboldening his supporters would be more damaging (sane)

To state the obvious, they'd be more emboldened if he had the nomination taken away at the convention.

[Mallow]

Nominating Trump and emboldening his supporters would be more damaging (sane)

This is about the long-term repercussions. Nominating Trump and having him lose the GE would send a pretty clear signal to Republicans to not pull this kind of stunt again in the future, allowing them to regroup quickly and consider 2016 a fluke year. "Stealing" the nomination from Trump and "giving" it to Cruz would only serve to further split the Republican vote, and when Cruz loses, Trump's base can complain about how the election was theirs to win and the Republican establishment is corrupt. This would make the Tea Party split look like nothing in comparison, with much longer-term repercussions.

[Penelope]

Let's see.. Ted Cruz is a guy that every normal person hates, and a brokered convention will likely result in protests and rioting and generally would be a media circus that we haven't seen in recent political history. Not to mention that it would entail the GOP transparently disenfranchising their own voters.

A Trump nomination might be more damaging to the country, but a brokered convention with Cruz as the nominee is certainly the biggest act of political suicide the GOP could possibly commit.

[Illiniwek]

Long-term the answer has to be _trump. People would be PISSED if their candidate got screwed at the convention. But four and eight years down the road the party wouldn't be much worse off.

[Penelope]

Nominating Trump and emboldening his supporters would be more damaging (sane)

To state the obvious, they'd be more emboldened if he had the nomination taken away at the convention.

Except nominating Cruz at a brokered convention wouldn't mean stealing the nomination from Trump.

The media, normal people, Trump supporters, and everyone other than GOP hacks and political insiders will probably see it a bit differently.

[IceSpear]

Option 2. Cruz isn't even that much stronger of a candidate than Trump, and you'd also get the immense backlash that comes from that. Nominating Kasich at a brokered convention is a far harder choice.

[Mehmentum]

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Parties survive brokered conventions.  Trump will destroy the GOP.

[Nyvin]

Cruz would honestly be much more limited in the General Election than Trump would.    There isn't much benefit for them to give him the nomination.    Plus the idea of stealing the nomination away from Trump would probably lead to disaster.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Cruz would honestly be much more limited in the General Election than Trump would.    There isn't much benefit for them to give him the nomination.    Plus the idea of stealing the nomination away from Trump would probably lead to disaster.

Better for the GOP to nominate Cruz and go down in flaming defeat than to nominate Trump and win.  They may not realize this, but it's true.

[Mallow]

Cruz would honestly be much more limited in the General Election than Trump would.    There isn't much benefit for them to give him the nomination.    Plus the idea of stealing the nomination away from Trump would probably lead to disaster.

Better for the GOP to nominate Cruz and go down in flaming defeat than to nominate Trump and win.  They may not realize this, but it's true.

Except they won't win with Trump either, and with that loss, the nomination of a middle-school-esque outsider will quickly and rightly look like a mistake, allowing the GOP to come back to its senses.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Parties survive brokered conventions.  Trump will destroy the GOP.

[Vosem]

Nominating Trump and emboldening his supporters would be more damaging (sane)

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Except they won't win with Trump either, and with that loss, the nomination of a middle-school-esque outsider will quickly and rightly look like a mistake, allowing the GOP to come back to its senses.

What would the GOP coming back to its senses look like?  Regardless of who gets the nomination, there is no central consensus in the party.  Gerrymandering has created radical districts, and placed radical politicians in power.  Their House speaker was overthrown, and nooooo one wanted to take over the job (the had to yank Paul Ryan's arm).  They are leaderless, aimless, fractured.

So, whose senses do they come to?

A Trump nomination and defeat wouldn't be nearly as bad as President Trump, I will admit.  President Trump, besides being a disaster for the nation and world, would be a disaster for the party.  Republicans wouldn't work with him.  Half of them would form coalitions with the Democrats just to oppose him.  Congress would be complete and utter chaos.

And don't say Trump won't win.  Cruz is dead.  Cruz I can say with complete confidence cannot win the Presidency.  Trump?  He freaking scares me, because we have no precedent for a man like him.  Except in other countries.  Like Italy.

[Figueira]

I voted for the first option, with the logic that if Trump loses the GE, it will be easy to claim that the party wasn't conservative enough. If Cruz loses the GE, that will be harder to claim.

But then I realized that Cruz losing will just embolden people who are mad at the GOP leaders for stealing the election from Cruz, so the second option might be a better one in hindsight.

[Torie]

Trump is worse, but they both suck. Cruz will be beaten too handily. His charm factor is close to minus 
459.67° Fahrenheit.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Except they won't win with Trump either, and with that loss, the nomination of a middle-school-esque outsider will quickly and rightly look like a mistake, allowing the GOP to come back to its senses.

What would the GOP coming back to its senses look like?  Regardless of who gets the nomination, there is no central consensus in the party.  Gerrymandering has created radical districts, and placed radical politicians in power.  Their House speaker was overthrown, and nooooo one wanted to take over the job (the had to yank Paul Ryan's arm).  They are leaderless, aimless, fractured.

So, whose senses do they come to?

A Trump nomination and defeat wouldn't be nearly as bad as President Trump, I will admit.  President Trump, besides being a disaster for the nation and world, would be a disaster for the party.  Republicans wouldn't work with him.  Half of them would form coalitions with the Democrats just to oppose him.  Congress would be complete and utter chaos.

And don't say Trump won't win.  Cruz is dead.  Cruz I can say with complete confidence cannot win the Presidency.  Trump?  He freaking scares me, because we have no precedent for a man like him.  Except in other countries.  Like Italy.

Try to find some history of the decades leading up to the fall fo the Roman Republic. The parallels between Trump and the cracks in the Republic are eerie. The Gracchi brothers, Sulla, Caesar, they all had a lot in common with Trump.

[standwrand]

Try to find some history of the decades leading up to the fall fo the Roman Republic. The parallels between Trump and the cracks in the Republic are eerie. The Gracchi brothers, Sulla, Caesar, they all had a lot in common with Trump.

If anyone was Caesar it was Rubio (beware the Ides of March).

[Maxwell]

The GOP is in a truly dire place. And they deserve to be.

[EliteLX]

Nominating Trump and emboldening his supporters would be more damaging (sane)

This is about the long-term repercussions. Nominating Trump and having him lose the GE would send a pretty clear signal to Republicans to not pull this kind of stunt again in the future, allowing them to regroup quickly and consider 2016 a fluke year. "Stealing" the nomination from Trump and "giving" it to Cruz would only serve to further split the Republican vote, and when Cruz loses, Trump's base can complain about how the election was theirs to win and the Republican establishment is corrupt. This would make the Tea Party split look like nothing in comparison, with much longer-term repercussions.

New user with best reply in the thread.

[Thomas D]

If Trump is the nominee, This is probably 1964. The Democrats win an electoral landslide and make big gains in congress.  But then as in 1966 & 1968,  The Republicans can make a big comeback and take back everything.

I'm not sure what happens if Trump goes in with the most wins, the most votes, the most delegates and has the nomination snatched away,  I think that's a bigger problem.