Whatever this amorphous, ill-defined entity actually is, surely Paul Ryan, John McCain, and Marco Rubio are full-fledged leaders of the Washington "cartel." 

They must be rightly pleased that they won easily.  Marco won 72 percent of the vote.  McCain got 53.5 percent, and his opponent got just 37 percent.  In other races, Paul Ryan wiped out his primary challenger 84 to 16 percent.  Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who has been in the Senate for a decade, won by a margin of nearly 3 to 1, beating a challenger whose slogan on his bus was "Defeat the Washington Establishment."  Rep. John Shimkus, a twenty-year veteran of the 15th Congressional District in Illinois, beat this Tea Party challenger.  The one bright spot for "extra-strong" conservatives is Tea Party man Warren Davidson, who won in a crowded field of 15, taking John Boehner's seat.

At a Washington Post report titled "There's no sign of any Donald Trump effect in congressional primaries," the writers apparently expect Donald Trump to sweep the Outsiders into power.

But here's another effect.  Maybe Trump's erratic and nutty policies (e.g., a tariff war, blowing up NATO, and maybe withdrawing from Korea) have, together, thrown a glass of cold water on the more "established" or seasoned primary voters who were taken in by his tough talk before the convention as they grew weary of Obama's overly nuanced speeches.  If any one of these voters got caught up in the hysterical bashing of the "Establishment," a hysteria led by the turbo-conservatives who dominate talk TV and radio, then he or she backed away from it.

So the new Trump effect is this: he's wearing on us, and we're nervous about him.  Best to stay with tried and true conservatism.  And if Trump wins, maybe the primary voters understand that Ryan, McCain, and Rubio and the others will have to save him, and the country, to boot, from his foolish policies. 

If these awakened primary voters are influenced by this new Trump effect, then the Grand Old Party has a bright future.  It takes a political party to win elections, and a party needs leaders, however flawed, like Ryan, McCain, and Rubio.  It is more convenient for them and better for us, the rank and file, if they live in the nation's capital.  In other words, they are the necessary insiders who know how the government works and have a better understanding of the Constitution than Trump has, which, admittedly, is not saying much. 

These election results are positive for conservatism because they show that regular voters now understand what it takes for this political philosophy to win elections. 

With these election results, conservatism has a bright future founded on sober judgment of what it really is.  Now maybe we can win more elections after November 2016 (if Trump loses).  It's the only philosophy out there today that can rescue us from a runaway national operating debt, a weak military, high taxes, the regulation bureaucracy, and so on.

The "Establishment" to the rescue!

James Arlandson's website is Live as Free People, where he has posted In defense of the GOP 'Establishment,' Conservatism is not dead, and the GOP has not given everything Obama and Dems wanted.