After the last presidential nomination cycle, where Mitt Romney had to struggle a bit to get the nomination, GOP leaders decided to make it easier for one of their own to get the nomination.  They figured that a GOP insider, bankrolled with big money from the Chamber of Commerce and other like-thinking crony capitalists who want illegal immigration and business opportunities with Iran, could, with proper funding, get 35% or 40% of the vote in Republican primaries.

Therefore, GOP insiders thought that increasing the number of states who award delegates based on "winner take all" – where the largest vote-getter, even if only a plurality, gets all the delegates – would aid an establishment GOP candidate, especially in a fractured primary such as this one.  They also condensed the primary calendar, so an insurgent candidate won't have as much time and opportunity to rally against the establishment candidate.

Well, it hasn't quite worked out that way.

The Republican rule changes reflected the lessons learned from Mr. Romney’s defeat, after a long primary fight left him short of money and pulled to the right on issues, weakening him among undecided voters when he faced Mr. Obama. The party compressed its nominating calendar to try to make the process end sooner, limited the number of debates, moved the convention to July from August, barred all but the traditional early nominating states from holding contests until March and shortened the period in which states could hold primaries or caucuses that award delegates proportionally.

[Insiders] were increasingly convinced that Donald J. Trump could exploit openings created by the party’s revised rules to capture the nomination or, short of that, to amass enough delegates to be a power broker at the convention. If Mr. Trump draws one-third of the Republican primary vote, as recent polls suggest he will, that could be enough to win in a crowded field. After March 15, he could begin amassing all the delegates in a given state even if he carried it with only a third of the vote. And the later it gets, the harder it becomes for a lead in delegates to be overcome, with fewer state contests remaining in which trailing candidates can attempt comebacks.

What their rule changes may have done, in fact, is grease the skids for Donald Trump, assuming he continues his lead in the polls.  If the GOP hadn't changed the rules, it would have more likely made for a brokered convention, which would offer a greater opportunity to stop Trump.

Of course, it is still a few months to the first primary, and things can change.  But if they don't, Reince Priebus and his ilk will have been responsible for helping Donald Trump win the nomination.  The nominee typically cleans house at the RNC.  If Trump is the nominee, after they have been fired by Trump, what kind of jobs on K Street do you think Reince and his coworkers will be rewarded with?

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.