For Republican leaders like Boehner and McConnell, who have been accused of having little agenda beyond obstructing Obama, it will have been a rich irony indeed if the rise of Trump actually represents an uprising of Republican pragmatism against the conservative wing of the party. At Trump rallies, I frequently meet voters who tell me they consider themselves moderates or independents. Indeed, Trump has long polled best with liberal and moderate Republicans, and on Sunday he told George Stephanopoulos, “This is called the Republican Party. It’s not called the Conservative Party.”

At the same time, plenty of members of the Republican establishment are horrified by Trump, just as plenty of Tea Partiers are. (It’s possible, here, to get lost in Talmudic parsing of who and what constitutes “establishment”; there are ambiguities, but a good rule of thumb is that the Republican in question opposed the 2013 shutdown, or has the last name “Bush.”) That Trump has found allies and enemies in both wings illustrates the way his nomination constitutes a third way for the GOP. He redrew the old battle lines, combining the passionate anger of the grassroots and the win-at-all-costs pragmatism of the elites. And now he’s managed a feat of unity few thought possible, bringing such usual antagonists as Glenn Beck and Lindsey Graham together against him.

This combination of Tea Party and establishment sensibilities explains why his rivals couldn’t stop Trump. They were stuck in the old mindset. Jeb Bush planned to run against a Tea Party candidate—someone like Cruz. Cruz thought he’d be up against an establishment candidate—someone like Bush. The two sides couldn’t agree on why Trump was bad: Did he have to be stopped because he wasn’t a true conservative, like Cruz, or because he would set back Bush’s efforts to reform and broaden the party? Trump smashed the old categories and asked a new set of questions: Reaganism or nationalism? Ideas or attitudes? Philosophy first, or party loyalty?