(NaturalNews) There is an air of desperation steadily rising within the Republican establishment. And panic.

You can tell by the rising level and tenor of criticism directed at the party's current (and longest-serving) presidential frontrunner — billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump who, thus far, has thwarted all GOP and Democratic attempts to knock him out of the race.

Now, it seems, the GOP establishment, which is all-in for the next member of the Bush ruling dynasty, Jeb, has even taken to issuing vague threats against The Donald.

Running to a left-wing media outlet that normally has little love for conservatives (which should tell you that this latest Trump attack might be coming from a "Republican" but not a "conservative"), Mike Murphy — a top Jeb Bush supporter — recently told Bloomberg Politics that Trump is "dead politically" and will never be president of the United States, never mind his consistent front-runner status.

Murphy further unloaded on Trump, describing him as "a false zombie front-runner."

"He's dead politically, he'll never be president of the United States, ever," Murphy ranted.

Was that a threat?

Was that some kind of veiled threat? (by the way, Trump and second-place GOP presidential contender and retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson now both have Secret Service protection)

Only Murphy (and the GOP establishment) know for sure.

"By definition, I don't think you can be a front-runner if you're totally un-electable. I think there's an a-priori logic problem in that," Murphy, the chief strategist at Bush's "Right To Rise" Super PAC that has received more than $100 million in donations for the 2016 primary, continued.

He went on to discuss why Bush was an early favorite of the GOP establishment (and donor class) but his lead quickly died down.

"Well, I knew it would be kind of hyper because that's the business now," Murphy hedged. "But one thing in hindsight is we got this paper crown of front-runner early that we didn't want and I don't think realistically we should have had."

Continuing, Murphy whined:

"Because what happens is when the punditocracy says, 'You're the front-runner,' then they take a bunch of meaningless polls and a Donald Trump or a Kardashian or whatever jumps in and they say, 'Now you're not the front-runner.' So they put you on trial for them being wrong at the beginning. I think we're getting a little bit of a bad rap on all that stuff but, you know, who cares? We're going to power through it."

And speaking of that GOP establishment "punditocracy," William Kristol, of The Weekly Standard, a generally conservative publication, voiced the political equivalent of a petulant boy who wants to take his ball and go home after losing recently when he pledged to vote third party if Trump becomes the GOP nominee.

Political tantrums

"I doubt I'd support Donald," he said in an email, according to CNN Money. "I doubt I'd support the Democrat [nominee]." (Again, said in an interview with a left-wing media organization — are you sensing a pattern among these Republican establishment types?)

"I think I'd support getting someone good on the ballot as a third party candidate," he added.

This, despite the GOP establishment's demand that Trump support the eventual GOP nominee, even if it's not him (which he did). But now that we're months into the presidential nomination process and with the primaries approaching fast — and Trump still on top of the Republican field — the establishment is reneging on its own demands.

Who would Kristol like as a third-party ticket (without naming the "party" they would run under)? Former Vice President Dick Cheney (who has chronic heart trouble — great pick, Bill) and currently serving U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. (who has never given any indication he would abandon the GOP for an independent run).

They say that in politics, you can always tell who "the establishment" fears most by whom they criticize the harshest. Trump gets most of the GOP establishment's ire these days (and much more than the prospective Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton).

Looks like the leadership of both major parties are interested in just one thing — their own perpetuation.

Americans deserve better than the clown show we've been getting.

Sources:

Breitbart.com

Bloomberg.com

Trump.news

Money.CNN.com