FIX: Finish this sentence: Ten years from now, Republicans will look back on nominating Donald Trump in 2016 as __________________. Now, explain.
Stevens: A catastrophic mistake. Before 1964, Republican presidential candidates could get 30 to 35 percent of the African American vote. That fell off a cliff in 1964 never to recover. If the same happens in 2016 with other segments of non-white vote such as Latinos and Asian Americans, we likely won't elect another Republican president for generations. I go back to these two basic numbers: in 1980, Ronald Reagan won a sweeping landslide of 44 states with 56 percent of the white vote. In 2012, Romney lost while getting 59 percent of white voters -- and a higher percentage of white voters turned out in 2012. White voters with high school or less are Trump's strongest area. Every four years they comprise just under 4 percent less of the electorate. Betting the future on those voters is like losing $5 on every sale and hoping to make it up in volume.
You can be for or against the future but the future doesn't really care. It's going to happen.