Just when you think you’ve heard and seen it all in the Republican campaignathon, along comes prom king Paul Ryan displaying an arrogance that makes Donald Trump look like the Dalai Lama by comparison. Millions of American jaws must have dropped in unison when chameleon Ryan casually told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he’s “just not ready” to support Trump.

Really? Where do I even begin to address such a remarkable display of unflinching arrogance? How about just stating the obvious — that the litmus-test conservative crowd still doesn’t get it.

That’s right, hard as it is to believe, after ten months of watching Trump swat every political fly who’s annoyed him, the pathetic “Never Trump” crowd really and truly still does not understand what’s taking place in America.

Specifically, what they don’t get is that this is a genuine revolution. And it’s not a revolution about Trump. It’s a revolution about the corruption and arrogance of the leadership of the Republican Party — and, on a broader scale, the entire Washington political establishment.

That’s right, it’s taken eight long and destructive years, but the Republican Party’s base is now in full revolt against the Ryans, the McConnells, the McCains, the Grahams, et al. You’d have to be blind, deaf, and stupid — or totally delusional — not to have figured that out by now. Nevertheless, the guys who have run things for decades have chosen to stubbornly remain in a state of denial.

They do not understand that the so-called leadership is not the Republican Party. The Republican Party is the Republican voters. Had party leaders been able to do so, they were fully prepared to ignore the will of their rank-and-file members at the Republican National Convention in July and use their crooked, self-serving rules to get their way.

Now, since Trump put Cruz and Kasich on the canvas much earlier than expected, their state of self-righteous panic has quickly intensified and they’re talking about forming a third party. LOL. Would that they would actually do it, because it would be yet another episode of Road Runner Trump versus Wile E. Establishment. And, as with the real Road Runner and real Wile E. Coyote, it’s Wile E. who always end up on the losing end of these clashes.

There are three things about which you can be certain if the panicked Republican ex-leadership actually moves forward with a third party:

1. It will give Trump yet another big boost in the polls.
2. They will lose badly to Trump in the general election.
3. They will forever be persona non grata in the new Republican Party that they once controlled. Talk about poetic justice.

Who in the hell does Paul Ryan or any of the other Never-Trump RINOs think they are to proclaim that Trump will have to prove to them that he’s willing to adopt their platform? Attention all RINO wusses: Trump steamrollered everyone in the field because he refused to go along with your ideas!

Giving in to the establishment’s platform would, in fact, be Trump’s first big mistake. Millions of his supporters, who got on the Trump Train because they agreed with what he was saying, are counting on him to hang tough.

So, what’s at the heart of the inability of establishment guys like Bill Kristol, Rich Lowry, and so many sitting members of the House and Senate to put on their big-boy pants, suck it up, and concede the fact that their own party’s base has resoundingly rejected their phony conservative principles?

They would like us to believe that they’re mad at Trump because he’s not conservative enough, but that’s total B.S. The truth is that they’re mad because Trump has threatened their power and easy access to myriad ways of stealing from taxpayers.

If they want to find out why they are now on the outside looking in, they need only look in the mirror. True, Barack Obama deserves the most credit for bringing about the 2016 revolution against the establishment, but the RINO crowd is a respectable second by virtue of doing what it does best: enable Democrats. And, in the process, they have also enabled Obama in his efforts to destroy what’s left of America.

The establishment crowd loves to rail on about how important it is for a presidential candidate to have “core conservative principles,” but which conservative principles are they talking about? The kind that have turned the Middle East into a living hell for millions of innocent people caught in the crossfire? Or the $500 billion that Ryan personally handed over to Obama — without even a debate in Congress! — thus putting every American citizen deeper in debt? Or the refusal to enforce existing law when it comes to illegal immigration?

What establishment Republicans have discovered, to their disbelief, is that most voters don’t give a damn about their self-serving conservative principles. And the reason for their rejection is that these are the very principles that have helped Obama and his Marxist base destroy America. Yet Paul Ryan now insists that Trump must adopt the very principles that the Republican base has already resoundingly rejected. Give me a break.

In their upcoming meeting, what Trump needs to say gently to Paul Ryan is: “Screw your conservative principles!”

Of course, the Never Trumpers insist that not only is he going to lose badly to Hillary, he will also take many on the “down ticket” along with him. I find is amazing that so many otherwise intelligent people believe that Trump can’t win the general election because today’s polls have him so far behind Hillary the Horrible … behind with women … behind with blacks … behind with Latinos. They can’t seem to grasp the fact that the election is six months away — an eternity even when two normal candidates are running against one another.

But the fact is that Trump and Hillary are not normal candidates. Trump is a problem-solving, job-creating, blue-collar billionaire with a magnetic, in-your-face personality who is capable of destroying anyone who’s stupid enough to try to take him on. (Are you listening Paul?) And Hillary is an incredibly dislikeable serial criminal who’s on life support with the FBI.

As Democratic strategist Dave Saunders said the other day, “Trump will beat Hillary like a baby seal.” Saunders went on to say, “I know a ton of Democrats — male, female, black and white — here [in southern Virginia] who are going to vote for Trump. It’s all because of economic reasons. It’s because of his populist message.”

Allow me to repeat: economic reasons. One of the least-mentioned facts gleaned from the exit polls in Indiana is that 92 percent of voters said that the economy was their number-one concern. That’s horrible news for Hillary the Horrible, because she’s linked herself inextricably to Barack Obama’s bring-down-America’s policies. (Cutting her some slack, she probably had no choice, because Obama undoubtedly has the key to her cozy little prison cell tucked away in his pocket.)

This is why, contrary to what you’re hearing from the media and scared-to-death Dirty Dems, Trump is likely to wipe out Hillary’s lead in the polls early in the race, then increase his own lead rapidly as the public becomes saturated with the criminal deeds and lies of the Face of Evil. Her trademark response to Trump’s devastating attacks are likely to be alternate tears and hysterical shrieking as he slaps her around like … well … like a baby seal.

We are now in a whole new political universe, and those who don’t adapt to it will be left behind. Glenn Beck is mentally ill, so he has a legitimate excuse. But there’s still time for “conservatives” like Bill Kristol, Rich Lowry, and Mitt Romney to save their reputations if they grow up quickly and start acting like responsible adults rather than tantrum-throwing children.