WHEN DONALD TRUMP appeared at the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, the party's establishment was still shell-shocked by his nomination. Yet its politico, donor and lobbyist members consoled themselves with the thought that, given his probable loss to Hillary Clinton, they would soon have a chance to reunify their party in furious opposition, and reclaim it. While a few senior Republicans-including the governor of Ohio, John Kasich-condemned Mr Trump, most merely gave the convention a miss. Mr Trump's main defeated rival, Senator Ted Cruz, addressed the gathering but did not endorse him. Seemingly by default, Mr Trump filled the vacuum with a cast of relatives, hyper-partisans and sycophantic opportunists.
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