You know one of the reasons Donald Trump won the Republican nomination? Because the folks in his own party who oppose him are really lame at that. They dithered and delayed, long past the time there were viable alternatives to sell to potential Trump voters. By the time they decided they had to do something, the only other options they could offer were Kasich and Cruz. Kasich hadn't impressed many people as actually even being in the race. And Cruz is the guy that even other Republicans compare to Satan.
So now, here's the new plan: Some Republican leaders want to recruit a non-hysterical, traditional conservative candidate to run a third-party candidacy and to articulate the sane right-wing view, as opposed to whatever it is that Trump's selling. They recognize that this third-party candidate cannot possibly garner 270 electoral votes but that's not the point. The idea is that he or she (almost certainly a he) would split the votes so no one — Hillary, Donald or this contender — would make it to 270.
This would then throw the election into the House of Representatives which is more or less under the control of the Republican establishment. They then could award the country, not to the candidate who got the most votes from the American people or even the most electoral votes, but to a person chosen by the G.O.P. House. It could be the third-party conservative or even someone whose name didn't appear on any ballot. Correction.
Yes, it's come to that: "Let's not let the people choose the President. They pick people we don't like."
As Jonathan Chait points out, this idea cannot possibly work. The third-party conservative might cost Clinton a few raw votes but would instead take most of them from Trump. Hillary, who already starts with a tremendous electoral vote advantage, might well win states that Trump would otherwise win.
It's hard to believe they'll try this. Yeah, this is the year when a lot of stuff is happening that it's hard to believe but this one is really hard to believe.