In the latest Republican primary poll from CNN, the clearly crazy contingent of Trump+Carson+Huckabee+Cruz totals 64% with the rest of the candidates totaling 29% (7% were unsure).
Also too, we’re nearing a government shut-down and Boehner may be ousted as speaker.
I do recognize why, after Romney and McCain won the last two GOP nominations and GOP establishment candidates did well in 2014 primaries, there are lots of smart people (e.g. everyone at 538) saying that the GOP establishment still rules the party. To me, that argument is starting to sound like the arguments that we didn’t have a housing bubble in 2008.
Many observers were talking about a housing bubble by 2005 and when there was no crash for a couple years, that was somehow proof to others that there was no bubble after all. I’d say that observers who thought that the rise of Newt/Cain/Santorum in 2012 meant something ominous for the GOP establishment were probably on to something.
Update. Okay, probably “clearly crazy” doesn’t narrow things down much among this field. Trump+Carson+Cruz+Huckabee are all candidates who frighten the GOP establishment (and rightly so).