Remember the "September blitz"? There were rumors that after the summer break, the big money, Chamber of Commerce establishment Republican interests with their Super PACS were going to cut down Donald Trump with millions of dollars of negative ads. With the exception of one ad buy from the Club for Growth, it didn't happen.

The question is why? The Times reports the answer:

Some of the highest-ranking Republicans in Congress and some of the party’s wealthiest and most generous donors have balked at trying to take down Mr. Trump because they fear a public feud with the insult-spewing media figure.  That has led to a standoff of sorts: Almost everyone in the party’s upper echelons agrees something must be done, and almost no one is willing to do it.

Two of the most potent financial networks in Republican politics, that of the hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer and another led by the industrialists Charles G. and David H. Koch, have each had preliminary conversations about beginning an anti-Trump campaign, according to strategists involved. But Mr. Trump has already mocked Mr. Singer and the Kochs, and officials linked to them said they were reluctant to incur more ferocious counterattacks.

The sidelines are crowded. The Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; American Crossroads, the group led by Karl Rove; and Right to Rise, the “super PAC” supporting Jeb Bush, have no immediate plans to go after Mr. Trump, officials said.

They're afraid. They are afraid to attack Trump because they know that Trump will attack them, by name, aggressively and repeatedly.

Does this sound familiar to you? It should. For years Republicans have been afraid to confront Obama on any aspect of governance, for fear that Obama will attack them. Now, for the first time, they are showing this same fear of a fellow Republican.

Politicians are afraid to attack Trump because they know their popularity will go down. The Kochs and Mr. Singer don't want the equivalent of millions of dollars of bad publicity that comes from being attacked by Donald Trump. Karl Rover doesn't want to be called "stupid" or the "dumbest of the dumb" or a "real loser" by a man who reaches millions of viewers every day.

So it's fear that keeps them in line. But if Trump is nominated, look for them to be the first to secretly fund Hillary's campaign.

Meanwhile, the GOP publically frets about the cost to their great candidates:

“If he carries this message into the general election in Ohio, we’ll hand this election to Hillary Clinton — and then try to salvage the rest of the ticket,” said Matt Borges, chairman of the Republican Party there, where Senator Rob Portman is facing a competitive re-election.

Rob Portman, who gets a F from conservativerveview.com, was the first Republican Senator to come out in favor of homosexual marriage. We can't afford to lose his voice in the Senate Republican caucus.

Pat Brady, the former state Republican chairman in Illinois, where Senator Mark S. Kirk is also locked in a difficult campaign, was even more direct. “If he’s our nominee, the repercussions of that in this state would be devastating,” Mr. Brady said.

Senator Kirk also gets an "F" from conservativereview.com. If he is defeated, he could be replaced by a Democrat who also would get an "F" rating.

Isn't it refreshing, for once, that the GOP establishment is afraid of a politician who is espousing some conservative positions, instead of a leftist Democrat?

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.