Democrats are cheering and Republicans are chafing as Donald Trump hogs the spotlight. Presumably, at some point he will implode or get tired of the game. But how much damage will he do to the Republican brand by then? And suppose he keeps going through the debates, through the primaries and maybe even through November 2016 as an Independent?

This is a classic case of chickens coming home to roost. Whether Trump believes everything he says or not, and his history suggests it’s all an act to get the attention he craves as much as money, he’s saying what tugs at the heartstrings of very conservative Republicans.

As they used to say about Barry Goldwater: “If your heart, you know he’s right.” In their hearts, an apparently goodly number of Republicans like what Trump says about immigrants, the other Republican candidates and most any American less rich and successful than they are. His mean-spirited rants and insults make their Fox-hardened hearts go pitter-pat.

At bottom, there’s nothing to Donald Trump but greed and ego. But he has found an ugly bottom in the Republican Party psyche.