According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, arrogance is “an insulting way of thinking or behaving that comes from believing that you are better, smarter or more important than other people.” Not that FedUp PAC would dare to question Merriam-Webster, but maybe a picture of Earle Mack would define arrogance just as well and a lot more quickly.

A fast Google search of Mr. Mack reveals a background worthy of a charter member of the Republican establishment: a multimillionaire with ties to Hollywood and to the New York real estate business, service as U.S. Ambassador to Finland in the administration of President George W. Bush and a prominent backer of liberal Republican George Pataki’s presidential campaign.

Still, Mr. Mack would not have come up on the FedUp PAC radar except for the recent announcement that he has staked $1 million to support “The Committee to Draft Speaker Ryan.” Establishment darling Paul Ryan’s name has come up before in the discussion of a deadlocked Republican convention in July, but this is the first time anyone in the establishment has publically committed to putting up real money to promote Ryan as a so-called compromise nominee.

Explaining his big-money commitment to elevate House Speaker Ryan, Mr. Mack said, “It all comes down to winning the election, not dividing our party, and I think that this presidential election has descended into more of a schoolyard scuffle.” Apparently in the establishment’s private Washington clubs and salons, outsiders like Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are always a divisive force. When the Republican establishment doesn’t get its way, you can bet someone somewhere is “dividing” the party.

One of the problems with Mr. Mack’s explanation, however, is that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are consistently sharing over 60% of the vote in GOP primaries and caucuses. It seems they are doing a good job of unifying the party around the idea that grassroots conservatives have had enough of establishment Republicans like Paul Ryan who repeatedly betray everything Republicans are supposed to stand for. Maybe the fact that Trump and Cruz are an imminent threat to the power and influence of Mr. Mack and his elitist pals is a better explanation after all for his sudden generosity on Paul Ryan’s behalf.

Establishment Republicans are already pouring millions into an effort to prevent outsiders Trump and Cruz from winning the majority of GOP delegates that a candidate needs to clinch the GOP nomination on a first-ballot vote at the Republican convention. If neither candidate has a majority, nobody wins (for more, see “Let the Outsiders Settle It” in this edition of the newsletter). The result would be the “deadlocked” convention you keep hearing about in the media. At that point, the rules go out the window and delegates are free to more or less do what they want. Under those conditions, GOP power brokers have the upper hand. They can change the rules or make new rules to guarantee a nominee that satisfies their establishment patrons. The votes of tens of millions of grassroots conservatives would be cancelled as if they were never cast at all.

Mr. Mack is certainly free to spend his money in the manner he sees fit. He is entitled to back up his First Amendment rights with $1 million or $100 million. But let’s face it: Money has very little to do with “The Committee to Draft Paul Ryan.” Instead, Mr. Mack’s committee is founded on the arrogance typical of the Republican establishment. It is arrogance that says “rules are made to be manipulated” and mocks the grassroots conservative foot soldiers who worked their fingers to the bone delivering control of Congress to the Republicans in 2010 and again in 2014. If you’re left wondering what good that did, rest assured you are not the only one.

FedUp PAC is sorry if the “schoolyard scuffle” Republican campaign offends Mr. Mack’s delicate sensibilities. Yes, Trump and Cruz are waging a tough, sometimes bare-knuckles fight. But at least they are doing it out in the open where voters ultimately have the last word. That’s a lot more than we can say about Mr. Mack’s arrogant, million-dollar attempt to hijack the Republican convention and deliver it to an establishment water carrier who didn’t even run in a single primary while the will of millions of grassroots conservatives nationwide is trampled.