You got that right, once they've been inaugurated into “the club”, it's pretty much a lifetime sinecure. We in Mississippi know that to our deep chagrin. Haley Barbour and Co used every dirty trick in the book, and did it openly, in order to prevent a true conservative, Chris McDaniel, from throwing a monkey wrench into their good ole boys’ works. They had no shame, and no fear, in letting it be seen to what depths of the sewer they would descend, such as paying black ‘rat pastors to call McDaniel a racist. All to prop up a senile old fool, Thad Cochran, but he was “one of them”, and in on their gravy train for many years.
I have recently noticed just how many Mississippian Republicans have turned out to be party over principle-Cochran, Trent Lott, Barbour-and that's not counting leftist morons like Ray Mabus, who has done a great job of socially engineering the Navy, and weakening it. It just goes to show that the RINO rot is everywhere, even in a staunchly conservative state like MS.
Trent Lott doesn't even bother to hide his disdain for conservatives and his desire to crush and silence us, now that he's been kicked out of the club and doesn't have to pay lip service to conservative principles anymore.
A well-oiled political machine makes it all but impossible for an outsider challenging an incumbent to wage a successful campaign. Any opponent will be denied access to funds and, equally importantly, to the media outlets who serve as party mouthpieces.
The only reason Trump was able to take on the GOP establishment was the fact that he was self-funding the primaries and a media celebrity that couldn't be ignored.