Editorial: Trumping the establishment

Those card-carrying members of the Republican Establishment found themselves grappling with a range of emotions this week. But was the glee they felt when the detested Ted Cruz — “Lucifer,” former House speaker John Boehner tagged him — exited for the sidelines great enough to dull the intense, throbbing pain triggered by the realization that the “never Trump” effort had imploded?

It’s worth noting that the two sensations are not unconnected. The beltway Republican crowd hates Sen. Cruz because, smartly or not, he refuses to play the game, placing ideology above Senate protocol, backscratching and political logrolling. At the same time, Donald Trump has mobilized millions of angry GOP voters precisely because he’s seen as a disruptive force, the consummate anti-politician who tells it like it is and vows to do to Washington routine what Dorothy did to the Wicked Witch of the West.

Analysts have spent the past many months trying to figure out the restless, ill-tempered electorate. As far as Donald Trump is concerned, a push-back against the dangerous forces of political correctness and a perception that he isn’t beholden to anyone are common explanations for his success — and there is surely some truth in them.

But many GOP partisans — and some independents — are also fed up with voting for candidates who promise to shrink the federal Leviathan only to see them scurry to the shadows when challenged by sycophants for welfare state. So fed up, in fact, that as a protest against the ruling class they are running to throw their support behind a relentless self-promoter with no discernible ideology.

Many Democrats snicker and cheer at Mr. Trump’s ascendancy, seeing him as November roadkill. But hubris, overconfidence and complacency — in addition to a likely candidate with her own panoply of baggage — are their worst enemies. There is no standard playbook for running a campaign against the mercurial Mr. Trump.

Meanwhile Mr. Trump must chart a course of reconciliation as the GOP convention nears — his hopes rest on continued record Republican turnout, which will require that he placate the significant percentage of party loyalists who view him as a crass interloper.

The next six months promise to be nothing if not entertaining.