
The blame started a long time ago when the Republican Establishment decided that it "didn't give a damn" about what the rank and file party members believed or wanted. They caved repeatedly to Obama's whims, shamelessly worked to defeat conservative candidates from their own party and, as a result created the Donald Trump campaign. And while Trump is a good businessman, his campaign to date hasn't shown the understanding of the tedious and often hard to understand process installed by the party apparatus to stymie a non-traditional candidate. And while the Donald and Cruz are both clearly "outsiders" at least from the realm of what the Beltway crowd wants, the Cruz organization has used the rules to its advantage and has done so with gusto.
Now I'm not saying that Trump as a candidate is done. Actually, he's far from done but he is now in the position of having to play rules catch up and, accordingly, he has brought on board Paul Manafort, a man with a good track record of understanding what is needed to advance his cause. That is likely why Trump pulled back for a number of days to strategize for the home stretch ahead, all the while mindful that gives Cruz an open field while he's gone for a short time.
But here's the thing that we all need to understand. While many of the Establishment have recently come out for Cruz, that same group has a long history of deceit and backstabbing and they are probably working in tandem to destroy Trump's chances while also calculating how they can stop the election efforts of Cruz next. Make no mistake, the Establishment is not interested in what Americans want, they merely want to continue their own little "gravy train", even if that means a Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders Presidency instead.
And what about the boisterous, energetic and huge group of Trump supporters? Will they sit home if he comes up short? And if Cruz and his strategy fails and Trump pulls it out, will the Cruz supporters also refuse to back Trump since, after all, the social media is full of comments to that effect? And what will the future of Republicanism be if the party nominates another Beltway "moderate" who is more interested in selling out to the Democrats than saving our freedom?
It's a long way from over and the end result is anything but certain. And the factor of perception also enters into the picture. Why? Because if millions of Americans think the process and actions "smell fishy", the party just might not survive. Remember, Trump has brought a large group of Americans who think the deck has been stacked in the past and believe they can really change things. And as Rush commented today, "Once you let the genie out of the bag, you might not be able to put it back." And that, of course, is something we can't determine just yet and the answer is a grave one indeed. Will we elect someone who really wants to change things, and I'll put the two outsiders in that category, or will we continue the degradation of America that has already advanced so rapidly and with so much help from the Republican Establishment. The outcome of the November elected will likely determine that one way or the other. God help us if we make the wrong decision.