seriously, if there are any remotely sensible republicans left to defect to the democrats or just independent, then only the truly crazies will be left.

then again, i've been saying that every 4 years since watergate....

+100000000000000000000000000

McCain - not that bad comparatively to a lot of other candidates. Really bad VP choice. Obama wins. Tea party starts because let's face it, a lot of people didn't like having a Black man in the Oval Office. Party starts to get a little nuttier.
Romney - completely out-of-touch but toed the conservative line but other than his religion didn't come off as nuts. Party bosses were able to keep the tea party nuts barely under control for Mitt to get the nomination. Obama wins again. All hell starts breaking loose with the tea party segment of the republican party. GOP politicians and the media personalities in cahoots with them go from using them as useful stooges to handing the reins of the party over to them. This is essentially how they got Trump.

Hillary wins. The GOP is going to lose its collective shit so even the saner parts of the party will be at the level tea-partiers are now. Think about the crazy person they're going to have run in 2020.

TlalocW

...Mountie Boy will have us all nostalgic for Trump...

The secret is out now: there is no bottom. The most loyal and motivated voters, right-wing authoritarians, respond positively to overt racism being spoken in monosyllabic English. They relate to stupidity, crassness, and bullying. One can take over an entire political party with those tactics. So I expect to see an endless parade of Trump-lets for the rest of my no-doubt shortened life.

No candidate has thrown his own poop in a debate, yet. Perhaps we can look forward to that.