As seriously as the winter wind, blowing in the same bare place, with the nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. There is no such thing as a safe race against Donald Trump. Nicole Hemmer If you haven’t learned to take Trump seriously as a candidate by now, nothing will convince you. But as the front-runner for the nomination and someone with a penchant for destroying democratic institutions, we should take his candidacy very, very seriously. Donald Trump leads his nearest rival by about 32 points.

---

Persons: Jane Coaston, Michelle Cottle, Ross Douthat, David French, Donald Trump, Michelle Goldberg, Biden, Trump, Nicole Hemmer, Jonathan Last, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Organizations: Republican, Trump