Republicans now scrambling to contain the political damage being inflicted on their party by presidential candidate Donald Trump were given a strong wakeup call by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), the top ranking Democratic senator in the country.In a speech delivered at the Center for American Progress, Reid tore into Trump with particular emphasis on how the extremism of the modern Republican Party led to his shocking rise. The Republican establishment acts bewildered. But they shouldn t. As much as they may try to distance themselves from Trump now, Republican leaders are responsible for his rise,  he said.He attacked his Senate colleagues for trying to distance themselves from Trump s rise, saying they bear the responsibility. When Trump calls immigrants rapists and murderers, he s just doing what he s learned from generations of conservatives,  Reid said.  The Republican Party has become the party of Trump. Reid went on to describe the actions of Republican leaders towards Trump as  moral cowardice,  pointing out that they simply dole out a verbal  slap on the wrist  when Trump indulges in hate but are still prepared to back him for the highest office in the land.Republican leaders, looking at Trump s poor performance in head to head polls against Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, particularly among the core voters that have given Democrats victories in the last two presidential elections   black, latino, and female voters   have begun to prepare contingency plans.One group is organizing in order to arrange votes against Trump at the Republican convention this summer in Cleveland, while others are discussing an idea to draft a third party candidate to run in the elections this fall. As a practical matter, both plans would likely lead to the easy election of whoever the Democratic nominee happens to be.Reid also pointed out that he at least respects Ted Cruz, even though he is amazingly unpopular in the Senate  Because he stands for things. Trump stands for nothing. Featured image via Flickr