“Welcome to Whose Line is it Anyway; the show where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter.” – Drew Carey, Whose Line is it Anyway.

The original reality shows were game shows, and the best game show is, of course, Whose Line is it Anyway, where a bunch of comedians get on stage and engage in unreality for a half hour, fittingly hosted for a long time by famous Clevelander Drew Carey. Carey is, himself, a libertarian. So many layers of cross-over here.

Master of the new reality show, Donald Trump, has also been putting on a show here in Cleveland this week, and like any reality show, it’s full of ups and downs, main characters and guest characters, drama and good guys and bad guys and plenty of unreality to sweeten the pot. Yesterday, after a lot of opening drama, the victor was selected, the victory episode yet to come. Donald Trump is the nominee for the Republican party.

Well. #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/A2DptXcbc5

— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) July 19, 2016

If ever there was a fitting phrase, “over the top” was it.

The unreality inside is complemented by the reality and unreality outside the gates. Protesters and demonstrators, street preachers and former convicts, all gathered outside the convoluted gate and barrier system to raise their signs and their issues and get on TV. There was plenty of camera-preening indoors and out.

The bulk of those in attendance do not simply support Donald Trump, they are enthusiastic about it. The delegates cheer him. They shout his name. They wear Make America Great Again gear. They wave his signs. They’re excited about it. It is not a grudging support. He’s their guy. Trump-fever has swept the convention. (Like, literally you guys.)

But a sizeable minority oppose him. They were silenced by the party. Strong-armed into compliance. Pushed, shoved, choose your metaphor. (Although in some cases, that was a literal thing that happened.) The minority voice was quashed into silence by the steamroller of the party establishment. Yes, the hated establishment, playing their establishment games on behalf of Donald Trump. He’s with them now. They’re with him.

The party is with him, now. By hook and by crook.

Because that’s whose nominee it is anyway. The delegates wanted him. The voters wanted him. Not by a majority of votes, but by a hell of a lot. And here in Cleveland, a convincing plurality if not outright majority of delegates. Not grudgingly. Happily.

Yesterday, the number was reached. Whose nominee is it anyway? The Republican party’s. And despite the democracy-crushing mob tactics, it was a legitimate, by the vote, by the delegates win. He won. In truth. There’s no getting around it.

The Republican party voters wanted Donald Trump and now they have him. That’s reality. This is what’s happening. That’s who will be on the ballot. After a dishonest campaign, after the outrages to the delegates, after the rules and the nonsense and the media complicity, he’s the nominee.

Good luck with that.

A fair number of people (though smaller than we may have thought, it seems) won’t be going along for the ride. Never, after all, means never.