I don’t think that this is as crazy as it sounds. Hear me out.
The Libertarian ticket is now Gary Johnson for President, Bill Weld for Vice President. Both candidates are former Republican governors, Johnson from New Mexico, Weld from Massachusetts. Both governors were moderately well liked while in office. Both are definitely not insane.
Now imagine that you are a not-bats*t-insane Republican (I think that there are still more than a few out there). You find a liberal like Hillary Clinton unacceptable and a bombastic racist like Trump frightening. You discover that you can vote for a ticket that has two respected former Republican governors. True, the Libertarian Party has some views that are not your cup-of-tea. But no candidate is perfect, and many Libertarian views are not that different from that of mainstream conservatives.
Indeed, This seems to be the choice that Mitt Romney may be struggling with just now. He is, of course, a friend of Bill Weld. In an interview with CNN, Romney said,
"If Bill Weld were at the top of the ticket, it would be very easy for me to vote for Bill Weld for president," Romney said. "So I'll get to know Gary Johnson better and see if he's someone who I could end up voting for. That's something which I'll evaluate over the coming weeks and months."
If he were to endorse Johnson, it would certainly give other “Romney Republicans” permission to do the same.
I don’t know how much of a dent Johnson-Weld could make. But given how absolutely toxic Trump is becoming, could a ticket of two respected Republican governors pull enough right-leaning independents and Romney Republicans away from Trump to effectively split the Republican vote? Could the pull be enough to give the Libertarian ticket enough votes to cause Trump to finish third?
I know it sounds weird. But if Trump continues to implode, could it happen?