This story was originally published on nationaljournal.com on May 30, 2016. The latest round of polls released prior to Memorial Day weekend, which showed Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in a virtual tie, set off intense hand-wringing among Democrats, Clinton backers, and Trump detractors alike. They much preferred the polls from a month earlier giving the former secretary of State a double-digit lead over the real-estate mogul. What’s lost on many people is that any trial heat between Trump and Clinton today is like comparing apples and oranges. Trump’s nomination fight is over while Clinton’s contest is still at a messy stage. Republicans who backed one of the 16 other GOP candidates have coalesced to a significant degree, painfully progressing through Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Many establishment figures, who I never thought would come to terms with Trump as the GOP nominee, have now moved to healing and closure, if somewhat reluctantly. They are quick to point out that Trump wasn’t their first choice, but, when the bugle sounded, they and other
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