Republican voters have noticed an enormous change of heart in party leadership last week. The party that once fought against Cruz is now embracing him as its saving grace.
Mitt Romney is arguably the most prominent Republican who has stepped out for Cruz. Romney’s efforts for promoting the Texas senator as the new GOP candidate have not stemmed so far as an official endorsement. However, Romney dedicated time to campaigning for Cruz last week. Other prominent GOP elders, including Lindsay Graham, have also come out for Cruz.
The endorsements are causing some whiplash among the conservative base. Asked only a few weeks ago, many of the men now calling Cruz the right man for the job might have stopped just short of calling him the most insidious man in Washington. Now, he’s a “consistent and principled conservative,” according to Jeb Bush.
The Republicans are now so afraid of a Trump ticket that they are rallying behind the man that nobody likes.
Unfortunately for the GOP, this grin-and-bear it technique will be all for naught. The voters have already seen this move as a ploy on behalf of the leadership to discard the people’s vote and put in an establishment candidate.
The people are not wrong. That is exactly what is happening.
Cruz is far from being the establishment candidate that Mitt Romney was in 2012. But the GOP knows that it can exert more control over him than it can over Donald Trump. This is important if a Republican ever want to set foot in Washington again. A Trump presidency has the potential to go so wrong that the Republicans may not just have to rebrand. The party may face exile from Washington altogether.
Of course, this assumption is far-fetched. Yet, Trump has seen several notable comparisons to Hitler. The official Nazi party was wiped off the face of the map.
The Republican's problem is not just that its voters see straight through these tactics. The voters are refusing to fall into line and are even calling party leaders out publically.
A quick browse over the latest posts on Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s Facebook pages shows precisely how many GOP voters feel. On a picture of Paul Ryan at a volleyball tournament, voters accused Speaker of circumventing democracy in order to keep a firm grip on Washington.
These aren't just Trump supporters. Republican voters who identify across the spectrum have condemned these actions on social media.
Neither the Democrats or the GOP want to see a Trump White House for similar reasons. No one knows what a Trump administration looks like and from the outside, it looks terrifying. However, the blind attack on the democratic process will come at a cost for the GOP.
It looks like the Republican side of the election still remains a wait-and-see game. Removing Trump from the White House will cost the GOP Senate seats and the general election and denigrate the American brand of democracy. Neither are appealing. Yet, upholding the virtues of American democracy will cost America dearly. The question now is who will blink first: the Republicans or the voters.