Marvel at the disconnect. Red State invited every GOP candidate to its confab except the one who is now likely to win the nomination. It is the same bluntness that is offensive in the parlors of the elite that is propelling Trump to the nomination. “What’s chiefly boosted him are those looking for a candidate who ‘tells it like it is’ or ‘can bring needed change,'” wrote ABC in its exit poll analysis.

“Trump also won two-thirds of voters who are angry about how the federal government is working. And in Pennsylvania he pulled in eight in 10 of those who want an outsider rather than a candidate with political experience, near the record set last week in New York,” ABC wrote.

Back in August, LifeZette argued that suggestions Trump was a “flash-in-the-pan” might be wrong.

“Unlike previous GOP flashes-in-the-pan, his lead seems solid, his coffers are overflowing, and his ability to weather controversy is uncanny,” wrote LifeZette’s Brendan Kirby. “Trump is showing signs of having a more durable and solid lead than previous shooting stars who had their 15 minutes of celebrity and then fell back to insignificance.” That was August.

Kirby noted that those outside the Beltway weren’t so bearish on Trump. “Republican voters certainly think it could happen. A Rasmussen poll out Friday finds that 57 percent of likely GOP voters think Trump is likely to be the nominee, up from 27 percent who felt that way two months ago when he announced,” he wrote.

Keith Koffler is the editor of the website White House Dossier.