The Senate, K-Street, and the Wall Street Journal are positively gleeful that Ted Cruz has lost the Republican nomination. In the face of the destruction of Donald Trump, the GOP in Washington would rather increase the risk of losing the Senate than turn the keys of the party over to Ted Cruz.

It is not just their spite for Ted Cruz. It is that they fear future Ted Cruz’s. The Senate Republicans have insulated themselves from the concerns of the outside world and refuse to reform. Their efforts to shut Mike Lee out of leadership, their refusal to rally to Cruz to stop Trump, their use of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page to attack conservatives, etc., etc., etc. are blatant middle fingers to the concerns and interests of the very people up in arms about an out of touch Washington.

Exit polls, opinion polling, and the people themselves are consistently saying they are fed up with not just Washington, but the Republican Party.

Every action against Ted Cruz by the Washington elite is designed as a punishment to Ted Cruz, but also as a deterrent to the future. They think they can wait out the devastation Donald Trump will bring and keep their power because, in part, many of them are not on the ballot this year in the Senate.

They know they cannot wait out an unbroken Ted Cruz who inspires more Ted Cruz’s. That is the lesson Cruz must take. If he breaks, he will truly have lost. He should note that every attack made on the campaign trail to undermine him involved those times he tried to work with his own party’s leadership.

Ted Cruz should stand defiant and he should take up Jim DeMint’s mantle and actively recruit for the Senate.