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How The Donald 'Trumpmare' Could Lead to a GOP Meltdown

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Donald Trump has been accused of "burning down the house," and that's prompting a well-known analyst to say the billionaire might cause the Republicans lose control of the Senate this fall.

After Trump's strong Super Tuesday performance this week, members of the Republican Party launched an attempt to derail his chances.

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney came out blasting Trump Thursday, calling for GOP voters to do everything possible to stop him.

Romney asked voters to pick the most likely winner in each state, other than Trump, pushing for a scenario in which no candidates win enough delegates to earn the nomination.

That would lead to a brokered GOP convention, and potential back room deals to select anyone but Trump as the nominee to resolve the impasse.

ABC News analyst Rick Klein says Romney's plea is a sign that Trump's success has pushed the Republican Party into "burning itself down in order to save itself."

It comes as independent political analyst Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia Center for Politics did the math on what a Trump nomination victory could mean for the party's chances of retaining control of the Senate.

As it stands right now, the GOP holds the majority in the Senate by a 54 to 45 margin. One member is an independent who sides with the Democrats.

A third of the Senate seats are up for grabs in November. The GOP will be defending 24 of them, many of them in deep blue states like Wisconsin and Illinois.

So what would it look like if Trump was the GOP nominee? Sabato says his research indicates that could be a "Trumpmare" for Republicans.

If many GOP voters stay home in protest, and Democrats are galvanized to the polls to vote against the billionaire, you could see "toss-up" races move into the Democrats' column.

Formerly "safe" GOP races would turn into toss-ups, and suddenly states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Florida are in play.

All told, control of the Senate could flip, with the Democrats safely holding 51 seats.

Sabato doesn't fully blame a potential Senate switch on Trump. He also points to GOP plans to block President Obama's Supreme Court nominee.

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