Boston Herald Letter, May 4, 2016

George Will’s advice to conservatives, distressed at the prospect of Donald Trump’s nomination, is not plainly stated but clear: Elect Hillary Clinton (“Damage control order of day if Trump gets nod,” May 1). Meanwhile, he condemns the Republican Party to the fate of the Whigs by declaring that “collaborationists will render themselves ineligible to participate in the party’s reconstruction.”

True, Trump’s likely defeat in November will be on a scale to discredit him, but conservatives complicit in the drubbing will share responsibility for the loss of the Supreme Court for a generation. There will be no chance of Republican rehabilitation if Will and others read out of the party the “Reagan Democrats” and “silent majority” who were essential to past Republican victories.

— Brian R. Merrick, West Barnstable