A task that no other Republican has been able to accomplish over the last year — taking down Donald Trump — finally appears to be underway. The Republican who is doing it is Mr. Trump himself.
In the wake of a series of self-inflicted political wounds, post-convention opinion polls have registered a sharp drop in his support, breaking a virtual tie with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. His slide has triggered speculation of a November landslide defeat and with it restoration of a Democratic Congress in January.
Mr. Trump damaged his campaign by saying an American Muslim father at the Democratic National Convention had "no right" to take issue with his plan to ban further entry of Muslims, and to question his knowledge of the U.S. Constitution.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has endorsed Mr. Trump, came to the father's defense, saying that his endorsement was not "a blank check" for the candidate to speak recklessly. Mr. Trump peevishly replied by saying he wasn't ready to endorse Mr. Ryan in his House re-election primary, though he eventually did so Friday night.
The speaker's obvious political concern about the latest polls is what Mr. Trump's slide may augur for Republican support down the ballot in congressional races this fall, however, putting his speakership in jeopardy. A Trump loss to Ms. Clinton would also signal a strong start to what Republicans fearfully call an Obama third term.
Mr. Trump's apparent unconcern over the potential damage to Republican Party interests, reflected in his hostile comments whenever he senses an attack on himself, has begun to raise questions not only about his excessive sensitivity but about his sanity.
Liberal columnist Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post has ventured to suggest Mr. Trump has gone over the edge. After first writing that Mr. Trump in the primaries "was being crazy like a fox," Mr. Robinson has concluded "that he's just plain crazy," and that it would be "irresponsible to ignore the fact that Trump's grasp of reality appears to be tenuous at best."
Conservatives, including the Post's Charles Krauthammer, Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institution the New York Times' David Brooks, all have joined the chorus.
Mr. Krauthammer wrote that after Mr. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had contributed to "the normalization of Trump" with their endorsements, their actions may have been "jeopardized by the Gold Star gaffe." Mr. Kagan called Mr. Trump "a man with a disordered personality," lacking the sense not to pick a fight "with a grieving Gold Star mother."
Mr. Brooks wrote that Mr. Trump "insults Paul Ryan, undermines NATO and raises the specter of nuclear war. Advisers can't control Trump's brain because Trump can't control it himself. He also cannot be contained because he lacks the inner equipment that make decent behavior possible. He looks at the grieving mother of a war hero and is unable to recognize her pain."
Within the party, 2008 presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, whom Mr. Trump once chastised for his captivity as a POW in North Vietnam, also was questioned about Mr. Trump as president. He was asked, "Are you comfortable with Donald Trump possibly having control of the nuclear arsenal?"
After a moment's thought, Mr. McCain replied: "Anyone that the people of this country choose to be the commander-in-chief and the president of the United States therefore can lead this country, and will lead in a responsible fashion. Anyone who is elected president fairly in this country. And that's the way that our democratic system works. That's how our government works. The American people select the next president of the United States, knowing full well what the role of the commander in chief is. Therefore, I have the utmost respect for the verdict of the people."
In other words, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee dodged, saying he trusted the people, knowing what was at stake in electing the president. His response was hardly a ringing confirmation of his confidence in the man he has endorsed as his party's nominee.
In spite of such growing questions about Donald Trump's fitness for the presidency, as Mr. McCain has somewhat ominously said, under the American political system, the voters get what they ask for.
Jules Witcover is a syndicated columnist and former long-time writer for The Baltimore Sun. His latest book is "The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power" (Smithsonian Books). His email is juleswitcover@comcast.net.