For a long time, no one quite understood Donald Trump. No one knew how he went from being a fringe candidate to the voter’s choice. Because no one understood, it was easy to shift the blame.
First, they blamed Trump himself for manipulating voters on social media. For a while, the Republicans blamed the Democrats in a weird conspiracy theory where Trump was a secret agent sent in by the Democrats. Now, the Republicans are blaming the media for neglecting the other candidates in favor of the ratings Trump provides.
Ted Cruz even blames the media for not addressing the serious issues in Trump’s past and accuses the media of sitting on stories and not doing the proper background checks like they’re supposed to.
It is true that Donald Trump would not be where he is today without the cooperation of the media. But even if the media kept their vows to neglect him, the only difference would likely be the amount of money Trump spent on advertising.
These are supporters standing behind a man who advocated war crimes. He defended scamming thousands of Americans out of thousands of dollars. He is also routinely compared to Adolf Hitler by credible media sources. Yet, his supporters write this off.
Short of the apocalypse, it seems there is little that would ever change an ardent Trump supporter's mind.
Just a whiff of one of those things would have stopped any other candidates in their tracks. But not this year and not in this party.
The Republicans have done their best to blame everyone they can for Donald Trump’s rise. Yet, they still refuse to look inward to see that the cause of the chaos did not come from an outside catalyst. It came from within party itself.
But back before he couldn’t be stopped, those who could have prevented the current state of affairs chose to ignore him. Other candidates thought that he would quietly disappear. After all, he had done it several times before.
Others chose to laugh at him because he was a breath of fresh air in the otherwise stuff area.
However, there were also those who used his candidacy for their own gain. The Republicans saw Donald Trump as an opportunity to bring fresh blood into the party’s core base.
Thus, party leadership did not condemn him when it mattered. In fact, they quietly told him to tone it down, hoping to continue to use him to prop up their ambitions in Washington.
It’s unclear whether the GOP realized how dangerous he was at the time. However, it is clear that they were still trying to ignore the huge base of support that could have shored up for any other candidate. At least, they could have had the Republican party not spent decades alienating the people Donald Trump appeals to.
Thus, the party is looking a tough decision this summer. The Republicans will need to choose between democracy and legacy. Whatever their choice, the party will need to own it if the GOP ever wants to step foot in Washington again.