Unfamiliar with the structure "fear...as"

[GoodTaste]

Does "[h=1]G.O.P. Fears Donald Trump as Zombie" mean "G.O.P. Fears that Donald Trump is like a Zombie"?[/h]
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[h=1]G.O.P. Fears Donald Trump as Zombie Candidate: Damaged but Unstoppable[/h]Source

 

[bhaisahab]

I'd call it ungrammatical.

 

[GoodTaste]

I'd call it ungrammatical.

Would you like to make it grammatical?
Because I fear that I would learn to use it this way, a way showed by renowned NYTimes.

 

[GoesStation]

It's fine for headline English. It means that the Republican party (abbreviated as "G.O.P." for "grand old party", even though it's the younger of the two major parties in the US) is afraid Mr. Trump is becoming an unstoppable "zombie candidate" without enough support to win the general election.

 

[bhaisahab]

I could accept it as "G.O.P. Fears Donald Trump is Zombie Candidate: Damaged but Unstoppable".

 

[Raymott]

In any case, it's explained in paragraph 4.

 

[GoodTaste]

It's fine for headline English. It means that the Republican party is afraid Mr. Trump is becoming an unstoppable "zombie candidate" without enough support to win the general election.

Got it.
Does "without enough support to win the general election" mean "Trump would likely enter the general election, but the number of voters, who attend to support him, will be less/fatally compromised so that he will not have the minimum number of voters with which to win the general election (worst still, a new candidate will as well have not enough support to win the election. That is why Trump is called a zombie)"?
(Sorry I've expressed it so badly - due to my failure to understand the grammar or due to my poor knowledge of the election procedure)

 

[GoesStation]

The New York Times article whose headline you quoted explains what's meant by the term: "...Mr. Trump might become a kind of zombie candidate — damaged beyond the point of repair, but too late for any of his rivals to stop him."

That means that the party fears he will become its candidate but will have no chance of winning the general election. This is the national election in November when voters will decide who will be the next president.

The term zombie candidate is new to me. As far as I can tell, it was invented for this article.

 

[GoodTaste]

The paraphrase #5 says "if the specter of choosing a seemingly unelectable nominee does not deter Mr. Trump’s supporters". Does it mean GOP would choose a new candidate to substitute Trump, yet this new candidate still has no hope to become the President?

#5:
Should Mr. Trump lurch into the convention so fatally compromised with general election voters and a sizable faction of Republicans, it could make it easier for the party to wrest the nomination away from him. But it would also make the consequences of failing to defeat him all the more ruinous if the specter of choosing a seemingly unelectable nominee does not deter Mr. Trump’s supporters.

 

[GoesStation]

The paraphrase #5 says "if the specter of choosing a seemingly unelectable nominee does not deter Mr. Trump’s supporters". Does it mean GOP would choose a new candidate to substitute Trump, yet this new candidate still has no hope to become the President?

You meant paragraph #5. "To paraphrase" means to restate in other words.

The paragraph does not mean that. It's written at a very advanced level of English, so don't feel bad if you struggle to understand it. I'll paraphrase it.
A little background: the Republican convention will choose the person who will be the Republican candidate in the general election. For the last thirty-six years, the winner has been known beforehand because a candidate has always had a majority of delegates pledged to him before the convention started. This time, there's a good chance that Trump will arrive at the convention without enough delegates pledged to him. If that happens, the convention may become quite chaotic as different factions struggle to get a majority of delegates to vote for their candidate.


Now for the paraphrase:

When the convention starts, Trump's opponents will find it easier to nominate a different candidate if a large number of people who will vote in the general election, and of Republicans, refuse to support him. But the Republican party will suffer even more if Trump wins the nomination after a big fight, despite having little chance of winning the general election.​

​

 

[Roman55]

so don't feel badly if you struggle to understand it.

That should be, 'don't feel bad…'. It's not the manner in which he is feeling, it's what he feels like.