What has been the worst decision/action on the GOP primary side this year?

[Cassius]

The GOP establishment (ie the big donors, strategists and the 'conservative movement') learning 'the lessons' of 2012 far too well. They assumed that Trump was just going to be a 'flavour of the month' candidate a la Bachmann, Perry, Cain and Gingrich in that cycle (and as Carson and Fiorina were this time round), which proved not to be the case, but by the time people realised that it was really too late in the day to stop Trump. Secondly, and this is a far more spurious lesson, but hell, people seem to have believed it - that the Republicans needed to nominate a young Hispanic in order to compere in the general election, leading them to support a dud candidate like Rubio for long stretches in spite of the blatant fact that he was out of his depth and failing to gel well with the electorate. Thirdly, and this point sort of ties to my first point, but is slightly different, believing that once the primary electorate had flirted with these 'flavour of the month' candidates, that it would eventually come home to a candidate acceptable to the Republican establishment, as they did in 2012, which again did not prove the case, largely because, unlike in 2012, there was no formidable frontrunner in the shape of Mitt Romney in the field. Bush, Kasich and Rubio, all the most 'establishment friendly candidates' failed to cut the mustard in this area.

So yeah, I think people basically fell prey to the assumption that because this is how things were last time, the same will be true of this time; Trump may say that he'll enter, but he won't; Trump may have entered, but he'll just be a flavour of the month; Trump may have entered, but 'gaffes' and scandals will destroy his campaign as they did Perry and Cain; Bush/Rubio might not be doing very well now, but as the actual primaries hove into view the voters will plump for the most 'electable candidate' (whatever that means), just like they did with Romney. Because the high ups and the opinion formers assumed that 2016 would unfold like 2012, and that the 'strongest Republican field in history' couldn't possibly lose to a guy like Trump, this gave those people an excuse to kick the can down the road until it was really too late to stop him (assuming that he could have been stopped of course).

[LLR]

The Carson scampaign was beautifully run for the purpose of what it was, I think it may have been the best decision (or one of) since it earned him a lot of cash.

[MisSkeptic]

The main problem is the Republican party didn't connect properly with their own voting bases: conservative voters, libertarians, etc. Who would have helped their cause greatly if they only listened. That's why Donald Trump is so popular with them. It's because he's like their very on avatar on stage. And when he talks about issues like immigration many Republican voters agree something has to be done. Many voters see immigrants-legal or illegal-as individuals stealing their jobs, destroying their communities, and so forth. Donald Trump was just able to plug in and amplify their concerns.

Now, another issue would be the clown show at the beginning. I agree each and everyone on stage came across as a clown the debate stage. It was like a car wreck and the whole world was invited to watch. There were too many cookie cutter candidates acting a fool; trying to rally voters who couldn't disparate one candidate from the others.

I agree that Trump was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, clowns on stage. However, that's Trump! He's an individual who's experiences have helped prepare him for this stage. This is his ball game! Candidates like Marco Rubio came across as too robotic, which made voters feel alienated. You also have the hosts outright ignore and give little time to candidates who could have had made themselves strong against the likes of Trump and Cruz. Also, Trump is blessed to receive so much free air time that everyone began to take him more serious, and I believe this allowed Republican voters to see him as their man for the nomination.

 

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

If Rubio hadn't been a moron and you know, actually developed a ground game and made a clear effort to win a state (Iowa or South Carolina) and executed upon it, he would've had a glide path to the nomination.

People keep saying Rubio had a path. Since when?

Rubios campaign was a cross between a David Lynch film and a socially inept robot.

Interesting in his own mind, yet incapable of atracting people on a scale necessary to win the nomination.

This is my point. His campaign never even attempted to define a path to the nomination; he was hoping it would all just fall into place. A Rubio who actually built a ground game in the first 4 states had a significantly higher chance of winning Iowa and South Carolina.

I agree that he was (and still is, to some degree) an overhyped candidate. Republicans wanted their Obama, but the best they could  find a lazier, less intelligent, and less charismatic legislative lightweight.

[Mehmentum]

Rubio's 'Lets dispel' moment.

[RogueBeaver]

Acting like Trump could never win, and then only trying to stop him after it was far too late.

[pho]

Acting like Trump could never win, and then only trying to stop him after it was far too late.

Basically this. You could make a 4 hour video out of all the times a GOP establishment type dodged a question with "Trump won't be the GOP nominee lol".