i feel like the reason trump refuses to 'swear not to run as a 3rd party candidate,' even though he indicates that he has no intention of doing so, is to send a subliminal coercive threat to the republican establishment. basically the establishment fears that he might just rile up the far right and then lose the general election for them against hillary by damaging the more moderate candidate that they choose to support with his smear tactics.
so they are weary of supporting him... they want him to swear allegiance to 'whoever wins the primaries', i.e. they want to use him as a sort of expendable martyr for bringing up certain talking points that might be a bit too risky for say a bush or a rubio to broach, cause stirring up said sentiments strengthens their base. but then if/when he doesn't win they want him to stand down and support their guy. and he's basically giving non-answers to that question each time they ask him as a hint like hey... you realize i have a cult like following right, and i can ralph nader the **** out of you with a 3rd party campaign... but i'd rather do it as a republican, so it's time to hop aboard the trump train or get left in the dust, losers..
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