Jeff Crouere: Republican elite determined to elect Hillary president

The hysteria coming from GOP conservative purists and party insiders about Donald Trump is reaching ridiculous proportions. Talk show host Glenn Beck has compared the Republican frontrunner to Hitler, while Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse has thundered that he will never support Trump if he is the nominee.
The problem for these Trump haters is that he has garnered an impressive 7.5 million votes to date, along with 679 delegates. In the process, he has won 19 states, more than double the number for his nearest competitor, Texas Sen.Ted Cruz.
While winning, he is bringing in new voters who have not supported a Republican candidate in decades. The old “Reagan Democrat” coalition of blue collar, working class and union members see Donald Trump as a champion for their values and a candidate with an answer to their ever growing economic woes.
The problem is that the elite of both parties have been perfectly comfortable relegating millions of working class Americans to the dustbin of history.
As a result of this message, Trump’s support has been growing ever since he entered the race in June.
This development is not sitting well with the establishment in both the Republican Party and the conservative movement. To say there is uproar among the elites is an understatement. Many of these so-called leaders claim they will never support Trump if he is the nominee.
On Thursday, a group convened by Republican blogger and commentator Eric Erickson met in Washington D.C. in a desperate move to stop Donald Trump from securing the GOP presidential nomination. This effort did not impress former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who said that the group, “ought to at least be honest and say to people, ‘You know, I’d rather have Hillary Clinton than the Republican nominee,’ because that’s what they’re doing. They ought to just form ‘Lost Republicans for Hillary’ and be honest about the effect of what they’re doing.”
If elected president, Trump will threaten the cozy relationships, high priced contracts and insider deals of the Beltway power brokers. He does not need their money and, if elected, will walk into the White House owing no one. He can truly act for the American people instead of the special interests. It has been decades since the American people have had a truly independent president.
All of this potential change is also too much for House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., who has been a total disappointment to conservatives. Ryan is clearly hoping for a contested convention. At this point, he believes that none of the three remaining contenders will have enough delegates to secure the nomination so that a contested convention could “very well become a reality.” Nonetheless, Ryan claims that he is not offering himself as a potential GOP presidential nominee and “unity” candidate, which was the idea floated by former House Speaker John Boehner.
In the end, the race will likely come down to only two choices, Trump or Cruz, who will eventually be the beneficiary of establishment discontent with the frontrunner.
With $19 trillion in debt, 94 million Americans outside of the workforce, a growing trade deficit, a wide open border, a struggling war against Islamic terrorism and anxiety throughout the country, it is time for “an absolute outlier” to be elected president.
To date, Trump is attracting many more voters in the GOP presidential primaries and caucuses than any other candidate. As noted by Florida Governor Rick Scott, “Donald Trump is the will of the people. We need to listen to the people, back his candidacy and win in November.”
The consultants, experts, analysts, party bosses and purists have not gotten anything right in this year’s Republican Party presidential race. What they have gotten wrong and continue to overlook is the popularity of Donald Trump, who has withstood the fiercest political attack in modern history and is still the frontrunner.
Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans and is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics.”