In 2008 and 2012 respectively, neither the McCain nor Romney campaigns were associated with rampant fraud, demagoguery, and indecency. I didn't vote for either of them, but I didn't believe that they were terrible.
The Trump campaign earned a certain image not because it was the Republican ticket but because of its unique properties. There's a price to be paid for that, period. Such as, a lot of communities won't want to have anything to do with it.
But he's still the republican candidate (who will also unfortunately be the republican president of these united states). The issue here is taking all of the moderate republicans and putting them in a situation where they only feel welcomed by the extreme variant, and limiting their ability to see coherent counter arguments to what the extreme variant says.
If we set up this dichotomy we will create many problems for ourselves down the line.
The Trump campaign earned a certain image not because it was the Republican ticket but because of its unique properties. There's a price to be paid for that, period. Such as, a lot of communities won't want to have anything to do with it.