Why a Predictable Clinton Victory Might be the GOP's Best Hope

Mark Schmitt wrote for Vox about Donald Trump clinching the number of delegates needed for the Republican nomination:

As mainstream Republicans of all ideologies grapple with the week-old reality that Donald Trump is their presumptive presidential nominee, it's evident that some of them, perhaps including House Speaker Paul Ryan, are in effect closing their eyes and hoping that when the election is over, everything will be back to normal.

"Normal," in this sense, would mean the familiar situation of a Democratic president whom they can rail against and obstruct without much accountability, along with Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

For these Republicans, the question is no longer whether they can win back the White House or whether a Trump presidency would serve conservative goals, but whether they can write off the presidential election and still win — that is, can they maintain the gains they made in the House and Senate in 2010 and 2014, let the White House fall to Hillary Clinton, and count on voter backlash in 2018 and 2020 to bring them back to a comfortable place?  Think of it like a company taking a write-down on a costly mistake.

MSNBC has reported that the wealthy, libertarian Koch brothers would invest no resources into the presidential race, instead spending heavily on House and Senate races. Art Pope, a Koch ally in North Carolina, has said the same thing.

How can Republicans win Senate and House races in states where Trump is likely to do poorly in the general election?

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