2016 Postmortem

He said he would do it in a debate in front of the world and the haters were so thrilled.

Maliciousness was a major motivator for many of his voters and they will stay home in four years if he goes soft on them. I think he'll find a way to deliver, but that will also drive turnout against him. People have to see it for themselves even when all warning systems are firing.

To your original point, this doesn't bother me because I already knew he had a mountain of vile supporting him (they were still chanting lock her up at his rallies on Thursday) and it's a political problem for him if their vengefulness remains unfulfilled.