An Anti-Establishment Year

Speaker Paul Ryan finds himself in a competitive race for reelection against Paul Nehlen.  The last time a Speaker of the House lost reelection was when Tom Foley was unseated during the Republican Revolution of 1994.  Before that, you have to go back to the Civil War!  Ryan was a rising star among conservative Republicans, beloved for his plans to balance the budget and his excellent debate with the president about Obamacare before it was passed.  There was a reason he was selected as the VP candidate for the notably squishy Mitt Romney.  When Boehner the Doormat stepped down from the Speakership, there was hope that maybe, just maybe, the Republicans would start to use the power of the purse to curtail Obama's extraconstitutional activities.  Nope!  Here is yet another establishment politician who lives safely behind Secret Service agents and towering walls telling us to stop nagging about immigration.  Paul Nehlen had something to say about that:

Paul Ryan, if you will not build a border wall for America, then I am asking you to tear down your wall. If you will not build a wall to honor the mothers and fathers of the dead, if you will not build a wall to protect our children, then, sir, you should tear down your wall and show everyone that you will live under the same conditions as they do.

The base has repeatedly tried to tell their representatives what they want done, providing landslide victories in 2010 and 2014, switching both houses of Congress from the Democrats to the Republicans and yet nothing has changed.  Repeatedly, the Republicans have said that they cannot do anything without the presidency.  Have they not read the Constitution that the swore to uphold?  Congress has the power of the purse.  No money can be spent without their consent.  The base was furious how Boehner repeatedly rolled over for whatever the president wanted.  Ryan has proved no different.  What was the point of the victories in 2010 and 2014?  Moreover, why should the voters 'trust' that it would have finally gone their way if only they had chosen JEB or Rubio?  The Republican establishment has failed to deliver for too long and the trust is gone.  Is it any wonder that Donald Trump won the nomination?