In the last year, prominent Republicans all over the country have been desperately trying to separate themselves from candidates they see as extreme, offensive or not real Republicans.

While this has been entertaining to watch for someone who is really frustrated with the Republican Party, it has been horrible for the American political system as a whole.

What nobody wants to say, though, is the same establishment Republicans who now decry Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are also the ones who had introduced, refused to denounce and even actively encouraged the extremism that has taken over the Republican Party.

Looking all the way back to the 2008 presidential election, a fairly moderate U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, was struggling to keep up in the polls against then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois. So someone in the Republican Party decided their best option was to push the party to the right.

Brilliant.

The party that is now so desperately worried over the rise of Trump is the same one that decided to elevate the political stature of current Trump backer, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, to new heights. For the first time in a long time, the most conservative members of the Republican Party were given a true leader outside of establishment politicians.

Palin spoke, and they listened intently. She called for “revolution” and the Tea Party rose to prominence. She lied, and then lied about whether she lied or not. Very little of what she said was ever accurate or true, but she was an outsider who knew how to get things done. So it apparently didn’t matter whether she actually knew what she was talking about.

Sound like anyone familiar?

Fast forward to January 2009 when senior Republicans held a meeting, which I envision was held in a dark room with a crackling fire and hushed whispers of plans for global domination, to discuss how they could best bounce back from the beating they took in the 2008 elections.

It was decided the best way to beat Obama during his presidential reelection campaign in 2012 was to block him from achieving anything in his first term because … democracy?

So they did.

Republicans from all over the country and conservative spectrum spent the next four years constantly denouncing any ideas, plans or actions the Obama administration took.

But while that can be expected from the party out of power, what isn’t expected is the open level of hostility and pure hatred many Americans felt toward Obama.

Republicans have been allowing hateful and false rhetoric regarding Obama ever since, creating an environment where fear and chaos reign supreme.

Somewhere along the line, Republicans figured out how to use fear of issues like death panels, socialism, soaring taxes, immigrants stealing jobs, Obama taking away guns, Islamophobia and now ISIS coming to kill us all to promote their own candidates and ideas.

Why? Because fear was good for business for the Republicans. If people find themselves afraid, they’re likely going to blame the figurehead.

So for Republicans, having the nation blame Obama for things that may or may not be his fault was a great idea. That is, until people realized just how dysfunctional things have become since the Republicans have blocked almost everything and started blaming other Republicans too.

Now, the same people the Republican establishment saw as their most conservative allies are no longer content.

They’ve been frightened and frustrated into thinking no person who currently works in government or Congress can possibly fix the mess that has been created.

So let’s summarize.

Palin’s tactics and disregard for the truth but overwhelming popularity set the stage perfectly for someone like Trump to step in and more or less bullshit his way to victory.

Then after Obama was elected, Republicans actively provoked and encouraged the spread of fear and deceit over Obama’s supposed agenda in order to gain popularity and hopefully win future elections. On top of that, the Republicans have blocked almost everything Obama has attempted to bring to Congress.

By doing this, the Republicans ensured that a large percentage of their party, who already hate the government, would despise it even more. As a result, they would associate themselves with a candidate who has no experience in politics and really just says what he pleases because he, as he has said, is “not a politician.” Now, Trump is winning all over the country and his momentum continues to grow regardless of anything he says or does.

Trump will be the Republican nominee. Thanks, establishment Republicans.

Connor Touhey ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in journalism, political science and history.