Republicans should be kicking themselves. They are about to blow an excellent opportunity to capture the White House and retain control of both the House of Representatives and Senate.

History was on the side of the GOP. It is rare for the party that controls the presidency for two straight terms to see its candidate win the next election. After Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower completed his two terms, and despite the United States having experienced one of the strongest economic growth periods in its history, voters selected Democrat John F. Kennedy over Eisenhower’s vice president, Richard M. Nixon, in a razor-thin election.

After Democrat Bill Clinton completed his two terms as president, and again despite a strong economy, voters elected Republican George W. Bush, at least in the Electoral College. Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore, won the popular vote. When Bush completed his two terms, voters elected Democrat Barack Obama.

The lone exception in modern political history was the 1988 election of President George H.W. Bush, who had the good fortune of being the vice president of the patron saint of the modern Republican Party, President Ronald Reagan. Bush lasted but one term, some solace, perhaps, to Republicans who are about to see Hillary Clinton elected.

Added to that historical weight, is the clear evidence that voters were in a mood for change, dissatisfied with the slow, if steady, economic growth seen since the recovery from the recession.

So this was the Republican’s race to lose, and they’re managing to do just that.

Donald Trump supporters, enabled by the candidate himself, are lining up whom they can blame when Trump loses. The liberal mainstream news media is ganging up on their candidate, they cry. Establishment Republicans are stabbing Trump in the back because they feel threatened by the maverick. Trump in a speech on Thursday conjured up the lunacy that at the heart of it all is a global conspiracy to defeat him involving multinational corporations. He alleged that Clinton “meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty.”

I wonder who will play Trump in that movie?

If they want to lay blame where it truly belongs for missing this opportunity, Republicans who voted for Trump in the primaries need only look in the mirror.

Many Republicans who continue to stick by Trump, no matter what he says or has said — including bragging that he got away with molesting women because of his power — contend the higher priority is keeping Clinton out of the White House.

But if that is the priority, then they should never have voted for Trump in the primaries, perhaps the one person Clinton could have defeated.

If the highest priority was winning the presidency and defeating Clinton, they could have voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a rock-solid conservative who has shown the ability to attract Democratic and independent voters.

Or they could have supported Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. At 45, he would have been a youthful counterweight to a Clinton team tied to the past. His Latino heritage could have attracted support from a voting bloc Republicans need to win the presidency, rather than alienating them as Trump did.

The list of better choices than Trump could go on.

Instead a large plurality of Republican primary voters opted for the bright, shiny object that was Trump. As a result they are likely going to lose not only the presidency, but perhaps the U.S. Senate.

But they’ll always have Trump.

Paul Choiniere is the editorial page editor.