The article seems to focus on how to get "acceptable" candidates running for president and how, once there, they can be kept under control. However I think the real questions should be: how on earth did a candidate like Trump ever get to a position where they could win and what is the state of the country such that a candidate like Trump ever came forward?
If none of these are addressed then you might be storing up trouble and in four years time end up with a bigger problem than the one you just solved.
Germany banned a whole party a while back. They're doing great, now.
Don’t vote for them.
Start by reforming the education system. If the average population gets more educated idiots like Trump have less breeding ground.
Let’s ask China, they have a government runned by a unique party for decades.
Republican voters (party members, primary voters and general voters) need to look at what they choose and learn. It's that simple really. A guy who says he'll win at any cost, might not be the guy you want for your party. At least if you care about democracy, the constitution, rule of law, the truth, human decency or the country more than you care about winning. Such voters need to take those lessons and look carefully at the representatives they support and empower.
In short, republicans need to purge the republican party of Trumpism from within.
Edit: anyone care to explain why I'm so wrong? I thought I was being quite reasonable. This is the process many parties go though every decade or two isn't it? The Democrats picked Carter, republicans had Nixon but have forgotten those lessons, here in the UK Labour picked Corbyn recently and voters picked brexit lies over inconvenient truths...
Sorry if I've missed the point...
The first paragraph acknowledges that trump did not have the damaging impact to existing institutions that the media said he would.
Then it says that regardless our democracy must be tended to.
Then it suggests a vetting system by “peer review” to only allow select candidates to run for office. I don’t see how that is pro-democracy at all.