Trump not very good at unifying the party

Washington Examiner:
Reince Priebus continues to be unhappy that some Republicans don't support Donald Trump, but now he's taking his tactics against them to the next level: Priebus says the party might make it difficult for them to run for president in the future.

"If they're thinking they're going to run again someday, I think we're going to evaluate the nomination process, and I don't think it's going to be that easy for them," Priebus said. "We're a private party. We're not a public entity. Those people need to get on board."

Six former 2016 GOP candidates have yet to endorse Trump: Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, John Kasich and George Pataki.

But Boris Heersink, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Virginia,wrote in the Washington Post that Priebus' comments are "empty threats," because there's not much a national party committee can do to harm a specific presidential candidate.

"National committees don't control ballot access or party membership," Heersink said. "That means the RNC cannot ban individual candidates from running in Republican primaries or from appearing as the Republican nominee on the ballot. If someone wins a GOP primary, he or she will appear on the general election ballot as a Republican."
...
This is a bad idea and worse politics.  A smart politician who had not burned his bridges would go to his defeated opponents and say "What can I do to secure your endorsement?"   But that is not the Trump way.

This threat sounds more like Trump being a jerk than what the chairman of the GOP should be saying.  This is so political unintelligent that is very likely to backfire on Priebus and Trump.  During the primary campaign, Trump alienated many people and he appears to lack the capacity to make up with them.

While there is some evidence that the rank and file voters are so turned off by Clinton that they will vote for Trump anyway, it would still be smarter to drop these threats against the former candidates.

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