They couldn't be that clever, could they? Most likely it is Trump's own achievement, as it appears to be, but it would have been a brilliant collaborative plan...

They would have assumed (in this imaginary plan, early last year) that no GOP insider could defeat Hillary Clinton, so, what to do? Then they realize Trump has interest in running, and is willing to fund it himself. A maverick outsider! A showman, who knows how to generate enthusiasm. A master strategist. They work out a game plan where the GOP establishment appears to be opposing him at every turn, but does it so clumsily that everything they do merely turns voters towards Trump. The plan would be to almost, but not quite, deny him the necessary 1237 convention votes. Got to make it look convincing. Maybe, after he is nominated, some of the party leaders would even conspicuously fall on their swords, as the finishing touch, though they might trickle back in later, after the election.

We'll know this isn't true when they finagle the convention to nominate a loser like Ryan (or Romney redux) to be humiliated by Hillary or even Biden.