WHAT IF BERNIE GOES GREEN?

At rallies last week, Donald Trump attacked popular Republican governors Nikki Haley and Susanna Martinez, and Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush.  He even took a shot at former Texas Gov. Rick Perry – for endorsing him.

Isn’t this odd behavior for a GOP presidential nominee allegedly striving to unify his party?  Isn’t it more like what a Democrat mole intent on sabotage might do?

Trump told a reporter there was something “fishy” about the death of White House Counsel (and rumored Hillary Clinton lover) Vince Foster in 1993.

Bill and Hillary have done many bad, bad things.  But – as Jake Tapper made clear – there is no evidence Foster’s death was anything other than suicide.

Trumpkins may disagree, but the fact is, no one under 30 – and not many over 30 – give a fig about what happened in Fort Marcy park 26 years ago.  All Trump accomplished by resurrecting this old chestnut was to reinforce suspicion he’s a loon with a penchant for conspiracy theories.

I’m amazed by how many normally sensible people refuse to see The Donald for who he is.  I was appalled to learn from the comments on last week’s TTP column that a man I think is a hero – former Navy SEAL Larry B – so strongly supports a Vietnam-era draft dodger who said he’d order American soldiers to commit war crimes that he’d break up long time friendships with people who oppose Trump.

You may reasonably conclude Trump is sufficiently lesser an evil to justify casting a ballot for him in November.  Dennis Prager has made what I think is the best argument for why conservatives should support Trump:

If Hillary is elected, it’s 100 percent certain she’ll pick a left winger to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.  Trump has released a list of 11 jurists he said he’d consider nominating.  Any one of them would be an excellent choice.

I doubt Trump is familiar with any of the names on “his” list.  And – because he has broken it so often – I have little confidence he would keep his word.

But the Donald is smart enough to know betraying supporters on the issue they consider most important would get his presidency off to a bad start. I put the odds Trump actually would appoint a judge from his list at 50-50, maybe a little better.

A 50 percent chance the next president will make the right choice on the most important decision he or she is likely to make sure beats no chance at all.  I’ll criticize no conservative who casts a ballot for Trump for that reason.

I won’t be joining them, both because I’m not certain Trump is the lesser of evils, and because I am sure the lesser evil is evil.

We know a Hillary presidency would be utterly awful.  We can’t know for certain what a Trump presidency would be like.  It’s reasonable to hope it wouldn’t be as bad. But thoughtful conservatives such as P.J. O’Rourke, novelist Brad Thor, and GOP consultant Rick Wilson think Trump would be worse.

I’m not sure they’re right, and even if they are, I don’t think that justifies a vote for Hillary.  But their arguments are well reasoned.  You should consider them before making up your own mind.

I want to assure Larry B that if Hillary is elected in November – which, in a two way race, is as certain as anything can be in this world – it won’t be because Jack Wheeler and I didn’t vote for The Donald.  We #NeverTrumpers are noble fellows all, but there are too few of us to make much difference in a national election.

Trump would get trounced in a head-to-head race with Hillary because of the millions of other people he’s disgusted, frightened or offended.

I noted last week an astounding 65 percent of respondents in an NBC poll said they “dislike” or “hate” Donald Trump.

According to a Bloomberg poll in April, 70 percent of married women oppose Trump.  In the past, married women have been the most reliable component of GOP coalitions.

In a poll conducted in April by Latino Decisions, only 11 percent of Hispanics said they’d support The Donald against Hillary.

Also in April, a poll conducted by the Harvard Institute of Politics indicated Millennials support Hillary over Trump, 61 percent to 25 percent.

By attacking Susanna Martinez, re-elected by a landslide in Democrat-leaning New Mexico, The Donald compounded his problems with women and Hispanics.

This makes no sense…unless Trump is trying to throw the election.  He may have entered the race at the suggestion of Bill Clinton.

If The Donald is trying to lose, Trumpkins can’t stop him no matter how pathetically eager they are to believe the nonsense he spouts.

More likely, Trump attacked Ms. Martinez and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley because he can’t control his misogynist and racist impulses.  But that too should be troubling.

Trump figures to get a smaller percentage of votes from nonwhites than any other GOP candidate ever.

That spells doom, big time doom.  Romney got the same percentage of the white vote as Ronald Reagan did in his landslide victory over Jimmy Carter.  But whites comprised 88 percent of the electorate in 1980, just 73 percent in 2012.  The white proportion of the electorate will be smaller still this year.

Especially given the millions of illegals the Dems are enabling to vote in November.  Don’t forget that – the Dems have baked it in the cake.

Trump supporters take false hope from polls showing a tight race.  I explained in an earlier column why this is a temporary statistical blip caused by the fact the Republican race is over, while Democrats are still whaling away at each other.

The popular vote in 2012 was pretty close (Obama 51.1 percent, Romney 47.2 percent).  But Romney got creamed in the electoral vote, 332-206.

Trump trails Hillary in every state Obama carried in 2012, could lose North Carolina and Arizona.  Georgia may be in play.

In the NBC poll mentioned above, 58 percent said they disliked or hated Hillary. If Hillary wins, the people she has most to thank are those who voted for Trump in the primaries, for nominating the only candidate more unpopular than she is.

That I think Hillary will win doesn’t mean I want her to win.  Trumpkins seem confused about that.

I could be mistaken. I grossly overestimated the intelligence and character of Republican primary voters (40 percent of them, anyway), grossly underestimated the selfishness, greed, cluelessness and cowardice of GOP “leaders” (upwards of 80 percent of them, apparently).

But I’m pretty sure the only way Trump could become competitive is if Bernie Sanders decides to accept the Green Party nomination and runs in the fall.

There’s a fair possibility this will happen.  Sanders is no more a Democrat than Trump is a Republican.

He seems genuinely outraged that Hillary is in the pocket of crony capitalists.  And Bernie’s having the time of his life.  Heretofore a little noticed crank from a small state, he’s now a national figure.  He may not want to step out of the limelight just because Hillary wants him to.

But if Bernie runs in the fall, and can get near 10 percent of the vote, an independent conservative candidate like the “impressive one with a strong team and a real chance” Bill Kristol promised ereyesterday (5/29) would go from longshot to maybe being the favorite.

America is doomed if either Hillary or Trump wins.  Wouldn’t it be ironic if it were Bernie Sanders who, inadvertently, saved the country?

Jack Kelly is a former Marine and Green Beret, and was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force during the Reagan Administration.  He is the national security writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.