• by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, November 23, 2015

As the GOP primary race has evolved, it is Republicans, not Democrats, who are most anxious about the prospect of a Donald Trump nomination. To their dismay, his recent comments -- ranging from shutting down mosques to setting up a national Muslim registry -- have re-galvanized support around his campaign.

According to the current RealClearPolitics GOP polling average, Trump now sits comfortably at the top of the race with 27.5% nationally, about 7% ahead of his closest rival, Dr. Ben Carson.

Trump had experienced a slight dip in the polls and even slipped into second for a time behind Carson in some. Now, as we have seen in the past with comments on immigration and specifically Mexican immigrants, Trump’s outrageous policy prescriptions help him in the polls.

The more we see Trump support crystallize, the more we begin to see strong and organized push back from the GOP establishment. According to The Wall Street Journal, a well-connected GOP operative is organizing a “guerrilla campaign” to ultimately “defeat and destroy” Donald Trump. He is seen as a candidate who will negatively affect the Republican party and inevitably lead to a Clinton presidency.

The most organized effort to dethrone Trump is Trump Card LLC, spearheaded by former online communications director for the RNC, Liz Mair. A Trump Card memo reads: “In the absence of our efforts, Trump is exceedingly unlikely to implode or be forced out of the race. The stark reality is that unless something dramatic and unconventional is done, Trump will be the Republican nominee, and Hillary Clinton will become president.”

While Trump Card LLC has been scheming to rally big donors to an anti-Trump camp, the Trump campaign has bolstered its ranks. Katrina Pierson, a former Cruz team-member who helped him win his U.S. Senate seat in 2012, has joined the Trump campaign as a new spokeswoman. She shares Trump’s xenophobic stance when it comes to Muslims and mirrors her new boss, also being a former Democrat.

With a couple of weeks without any televised debates, we can expect to see more attack ads and anti-Trump rhetoric from candidates still in the running. At the next debate, Trump, we assume, will face the full wrath of Republican establishment candidates.