Can Donald Trump Be Stopped?

In the end, however, Web videos, surrogate attacks, press scrutiny, even multimedia TV buys are likely not going to be enough to kill Trump. There will almost certainly need to be a candidate who steps up and takes him on directly and repeatedly. And one who, regardless of an ability to scale the Trump tower, presents him or herself as a strong general election contender.

But barring some major unforeseen development, most Republican strategists now are resigned to deferring a climactic attempt to kill Trump until the field winnows down next spring. This scenario, of course, ignores the prospect that Trump could rack up so many victories in the meantime that his momentum would be difficult, or impossible, to stop. But Trump’s adversaries are hoping that his power will wane when the entertainment portion of the contest ends and voters are ready to pick a president.

Can Trump be killed? The history of past nomination fights suggest he can be. The untraditional front-runners of the summer silly season have always swiftly fallen to the back of the pack—or out of the race altogether—in the fall. But we are in uncharted territory now, with a canny celebrity front-runner who combines an unprecedented and nearly unlimited access to both social and traditional media with a completely sui generis gift for attack and counterpunch politics. The three-month whirlwind since he entered the race demonstrates that of all Trump’s extraordinary talents, master of kill-or-be-killed might be his most decisive—and the single most important factor in determining whom the Republican Party nominates for president next year.

Trump’s rivals used to believe he would kill himself within weeks of entering the race. Then they believed that the press would kill him off before Labor Day. Now, many of them privately answer the question “Can Trump be killed?” by saying, quietly and with a combination of frustration, wonder and doubt: I hope so.