In what has to be a disconcerting twist for the GOP establishment who tried to use Donald Trumps contretemps with [mc_name name=’Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’M000303′ ] to run him out of the race, a new poll shows that any damage that Trump suffered was in the mind of [mc_name name=’Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’G000359′ ] and among the K Street opponents of Trump:

PPP’s newest national poll finds that Donald Trump is likely facing at least some fallout from his comments about [mc_name name=’Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’M000303′ ] over the weekend. Nevertheless we do find him narrowly leading the national field in our survey, which went into the field on Monday. Trump gets 19% to 17% for Scott Walker, 12% for Jeb Bush, 10% for Ben Carson and Marco Rubio, 8% for Mike Huckabee, 4% each for [mc_name name=’Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001098′ ], Carly Fiorina, and [mc_name name=’Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’P000603′ ], 3% each for Chris Christie and John Kasich, 1% for Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum, and less than 1% each for Jim Gilmore, [mc_name name=’Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’G000359′ ], and George Pataki.

Trump’s lead comes despite the fact that only 22% of Republicans agree with the comments he made about [mc_name name=’Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’M000303′ ] over the weekend compared to 50% who disagree.

In other words, as many Republicans think McCain is a douche as are supporting Jeb Bush + Ben Carson. In fact, more Republicans think McCain is a douche than actually support Trump. Half may disagree but half either agree or don’t care enough to have an opinion.

Before we go any further… I am not a Trump supporter. But I do agree with Erick, that if he is the nominee I will support him and do so more enthusiastically than I did either McCain or Romney.

This result should scare the bejeezus out of a lot of people… some of my colleagues among them. It should really be a wake-up call to GOP donors and apparatchiks who are trying to use mean-girl tactics learned in the middle school bathroom to hurt Trump:

Many national Republican officials are increasingly resigned to Mr. Trump’s looming presence. At a meeting of the Republican Governors Association this week in Aspen, Colo., donors and operatives mused about how to prevent him from hijacking the debate.

One idea that came up was to urge three leading candidates — Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor; Mr. Walker; and [mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ] of Florida — to band together and state that they would not participate in any debate in which Mr. Trump was present, using his refusal to rule out a third-party bid as a pretext for taking such a hard line. The thinking, according to a Republican involved in the conversations, was that the lesser-funded prospects who have been eclipsed by Mr. Trump would follow suit, and the TV networks airing the debates would be forced to bar Mr. Trump in order to have a full complement of candidates.

But none of the campaigns have shown any appetite for such solidarity, for reasons ranging from their strategic interests and not wanting to make Mr. Trump a martyr, to fear of making an enemy of Fox News, the preferred cable network of conservatives and the host of the first debate.

The more of these little games the GOP Establishment plays the more adamant and entrenched Trump’s support will become. It these people want to get rid of him, they need to start ignoring him or start talking about the issues he’s talking about that are drawing crowds. And if they don’t want him to run as a third party candidate they had better lay off these shenanigans and try to win the primary on their own merits. You don’t even need to be a Trump supporter to be in favor of that.