Let’s take a look at the Republican Party’s last two nominees before Trump in 2016.

John McCain famously reneged on two signature issues the traditional base voters wanted, immigration reform “build the damn fence!”, McCain exclaimed when running for re-election to his Senate seat, and the repeal of Obamacare.

Much of the criticism, and even some of the outrage, was muted due to McCain’s illness (although he could have retired) but now that the official mourning period is over, and all the lamentations from Democrats have subsided, it’s time to revisit that treachery in light of the next nominee’s betrayal.

Forensic analysis of the 2008 McCain campaign suggests self-sabotage, and a cursory look back through the life of this man certainly bolsters that theory. Others speculated that McCain, never one to respect the conservative wing of the party, actually threw the fight, took a proverbial dive, and/or simply never cared enough to win.

Our 2012 nominee was ruthlessly attacked and mocked by Democrats, and every Republican defended him without fail.

Sure, his conservative record was a bit spotty (to say the least), but he was adept at explaining conservative ideas. In those days, influential Republican pundits, well-schooled in conservative thought, emphasized rational debate as the primary method to win over engaged Democrats and Independents. Of course, using the hammer/nail analogy, if you’re a scholar in conservative thought, everyone looks like a student. Weekly Standard and National Review readers were in the distinct minority, but Jennifer Rubin was widely read in the Washington Post, Mona Charen had a column in USA Today, and Ross and David graced the pages of the New York Times. The other method proposed was pandering to the millions of Hispanics for whom the party had willingly left the back door open to appease their donors.

To many, Romney was an icon of upstanding morals, a graceful decent man who would certainly fulfill the role of President-as-Prince  so many conservatives longed for. He wouldn’t get October surprised by the media. Not this guy!

Having lost the culture war, many Republicans desperately longed for a virtuous avatar in the White House to role-model America back into being decent, traditional, moral, family-oriented wholesome people. The slogan could have been, Make America(ns) Good Again.

Now in retrospect, we see yet another man who rose to the pinnacle of Republicandom going squarely against the voters and other elected Republicans. In all of Congress, every Republican representative in the House voted against impeachment, and every Republican Senator, including several historical fence-sitters (Collins, Murkowski, Alexander) voted for acquittal, except one Mitt Romney. The Senator from Utah apparently has a uniquely brilliant rationale for his vote other Republicans, including most Utahans he purports to represent, cannot see.

This legal insight is so important that Romney is willing to be the lone dissenter among every elected Republican and side with Democrats.

This is exactly what John McCain did in signaling thumbs down as a deciding vote on the signature Republican issue.

This is now the legacy of the two previous Republican presidential nominees. In the meantime, it’s fair to ask what has become of ex-Speakers Paul Ryan and John Boehner. Denny Hastert?

Obviously there was, and still is, something horribly wrong inside the Republican Party. It can’t be more obvious.