Ah but he had the support of the partys elites: donors, media figures, politicians and others.
Ah but he didn't. Clinton had those until 0 started winning. Then the Democrat Party Elite started jumping ship one by one.
Same will be true of the GOPE. Political operatives make their living finding the winning parade and putting themselves at the head of it. Look what happened to the Tea Party movement. As soon as they started demonstrating power the GOPe fell all over themselves to co-opt and corrupt it.