For the Republican establishment, Donald Trump is karma

The Republican Party is in full panic mode, often depicting Donald Trump as the coming of the apocalypse. The blunt businessman who arguably incites violence and holds back nothing is the frontrunner for their nomination, outlasting the next in line from the Bush dynasty and an over-polished robot currently representing Florida in the United States Senate.

Throughout the course of this primary, probable nominees and viable opponents rose and fell, leaving us in the situation where we are now. Donald Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination and the only viable opponent is a United States Senator from Texas who is widely disliked by colleagues and facing allegations of extramarital affairs.

Governor John Kasich is somewhere out there, but without a prayer. Sadly for the party establishment, he is their only hope. Unfortunately for the Republican Party, he won’t be Luke Skywalker.

But this is exactly what the Republican Party asked for. This is the sum of all their actions in recent years, this is karma.

Four years ago, Republicans had an opportunity to embrace the rightwing activists who made up a part of their party. Then-Congressman Ron Paul staged a strong battle for the Republican nomination, representing a surge of conservatives, libertarians, tea partiers, and otherwise outsider Republicans.

As time drew on, however, it was clear Paul wouldn’t be securing the nomination. The mathematical fantasies of supporters became a dream. But supporters of Ron Paul still hung on, because they wanted to have a seat at the table. They wanted to have a voice in the future, perhaps have a say with the platform and hear Paul speak at the Convention.

Instead of making a small concession to these Republicans, the Republican Party under Chairman Reince Priebus turned the Convention into a coronation and steamrolled anyone who dared oppose Mitt Romney. The time for primary fighting was done and the Party felt the need to push unity, and do so by force, if it had to.

Now fast forward four years later, the Republican Party is facing a stronger anti-establishment challenger and he won’t be stopped as easily as the former Texas Congressman. Furthermore, instead of having a more civil and intelligent anti-establishment candidate like Paul, Republicans have an emotional and fiery candidate who doesn’t pull any punches in Trump.

Republicans had their chance. Now karma has left them with something worse than what they sought to prevent in 2012, and the party is now going down in flames. While many Ron Paul supporters haven’t moved to Trump himself, this entire situation is something that the Republican Party brought upon itself.

Chris Dixon

About Chris Dixon

Chris Dixon is a libertarian-leaning writer and managing editor for The Liberty Conservative. In addition to his political writing, he also covers baseball for Cleat Geeks and enjoys writing on a number of other topics ranging on Medium.