1. If you want to support someone who is a principled and conservative opponent of the GOP establishment’s immigration policy, you have Rick Santorum. If you just want to make an obscene gesture at the America of 2015, you have Donald Trump.

2. One objection might be that Santorum is a sure loser. Santorum has twice won statewide in Pennsylvania. Santorum also won the plurality of the popular vote in eleven states during the 2012 Republican nominating contest. On some level, I suspect that even Trump supporters know that Trump will never come close to Santorum’s electoral record. It is just that supporting an obviously dishonest, mostly liberal, buffoon is a more effective insult to the political class than just supporting some other politician who probably won’t win either.

3. Here is how I see two classes of Trump supporters: The vast majority of Trump supporters are just temporarily saying they support Trump as a protest. A smaller, more vociferous group of Trump supporters on twitter and in comboxes are trolling. These Trump supporters (and some of them might not even be Trump supporters) are just trying to get a rise out of Trump critics who (as the trolls see it) take themselves way too seriously. I think it would be a mistake to confuse the first and larger group with the second. It would be worse to insult the first group, while going after the second. It doesn’t make sense even to go after the second group. I see lots of conservative writers on twitter fighting it out with people who are either playing at being stupid, or are sincerely insane. Either way, it is a waste of time.