Like a raging, nasty infection, Trumpmania spread through the United States on Super Tuesday, resulting in a win for Trump and a loss for conservatism.

The rulebook for this election has been thrown out. There has been no carbon copy for us to work off of this go around. Trends have been broken and outcomes have been unreliable since this started months ago.

And we’ve all been shoved along by these unpredictable waves of discontent, with no control over the 30% who have taken control of our party, using the splintered Republican field to their advantage. The adults have been locked out of the room, and the out-of-control toddlers have trashed the house.

Americans, driven by anger at the federal government and the vacuum of leadership within the Republican Party, are going down in history as selling their souls and future liberties to an authoritarian figure who tickles the ears and uses fear and manipulation as a tool for resentful voters.

The perfect breeding ground for a man like Trump to gain a foothold.

Trump ended the night by adding 285 delegates, Ted Cruz took 161, and Rubio takes 87. Rubio coming in under the 20% threshold in Texas is bad news for his campaign — he misses out on a large chunk of delegates that he needed in order to stay relevant in this race — and he may be forced out with an honourable mention award.

With four state wins against Trump under his belt, Cruz is making the case that he has the strongest argument to stay in and be the strongest adversary against Trump. That’s refuted by other analysts, who insist the Rubio team has known their strongest states are the coming winner-takes-all votes.

However, I believe that even if that’s true, it’s only the case if this is a two-man race between Rubio and Trump. Divided, they both lose to Trump.

The gong has sounded. The clock has run out. Carson and Kasich have decided to go down in history as unforgivable contributions to this debacle.

With some numbers so close, the rage poured from various aspects of the party at the thought that this could have been avoided if these vainglorious men weren’t so addicted to self-promotion.

Beyond that, it is time for us to make the case for a two-man race. Cruz or Rubio has to drop in order for there to be any sort of viable battle for our party moving forward, and I imagine that will be the discussion that trends in American politics this next week.

My heart is sad for my party and for my fellow Republicans who have fought for conservatism as much as I. We are beginning to feel that the writing is on the wall and are having to ask ourselves the tough questions moving forward: “How committed are we to this party? Did we leave the party or has the party left us?”

Many of us can answer that with grim resolve ... #NeverTrump.

— Brittany Pounders is a political commentator, blogger and an active proponent for the conservative movement.

twitter.com/libertybritt