Because they got nowhere with the Milquetoasts. I don't blame them for wanting to try something different for once, it didn't work out this time. Lessons learned.
You say "lessons learned." That remains to be seen. I have rarely seen such a stiff-necked, entrenched and intolerant group as the Trumpsters. To wit, the purging of TOS of anyone who uttered a discouraging word about their political messiah. You do realize that this is unhealthy behavior, don't you? I'm not overly optimistic that these types will learn from their mistakes.
But let's get to your first point. Assuming that all the other candidates were milquetoasts, were there
any of them that would have been better than Hildebeast (who is likely be our next president)? Or was it just more important to make that burn-the-house-down statement that we're angry as hell and not going to take it anymore by nominating a candidate who has been historically liberal and who behaves in a manner that we'd never allow our kids to behave? The truth is, so many Republicans approached this race from the very beginning with the mindset of #NeverBushRubioWalkerPaulChristieGrahamCruzEtc. So these people were part of the problem from the beginning. No candidate was going to be pure enough for them. They created a vacuum and Trump moved in to fill it. As he did, he poisoned the race with the vilest of rhetoric. When the people kept cheering him, there were lots of us who were incredulous. So much so that we almost thought we were being punked. Except that it was really happening.
We were treated so horribly by "fellow conservatives" and called all kinds of names. Why, there couldn't be any other explanation to them except that we were GOPe or whatever new words they made up for those of us with an unwavering commitment to Constitutional conservatism. I don't know if they always had that kind of meanness in them or were just aping the behavior of their new political messiah, but it was jarring to watch it all unfold.
Pardon me if I'm tired of the hackneyed "milquetoast" excuse, especially when there were more than a dozen other candidates to chose from. There was no legitimately good reason to support a non-conservative, rude, tell-them-what-they-want-to-hear bully like Trump to represent a party whose base
claims to want conservatism upheld. And yet here we are with him as our nominee.
Sometimes missed opportunities are unfortunate. Sometimes they're devastating. I give you the presidential election of 2016 as an example of the latter.