Brexit, once a pleasant dream for the DUP, has become a scary, but predictable nightmare. As Mike Nesbitt, the former UUP leader, presciently observed: "Brexit is unionism's biggest own goal."
e also astutely identified English nationalism as the real threat to the UK.
Now given the probability of another Scottish independence referendum he was right.
The saga over the past four years of DUP's unwavering support for Brexit was like watching a slow-motion car crash happening.
Last week the inevitable car crash happened. It happened when Michael Gove announced that the offending provisions of the Internal Market Bill relating to the Northern Ireland Protocol, were to be dropped by the British Government.
He had agreed with Brussels additional procedures implementing the Protocol, that would ease the passage of goods between here and Britain, and to allow almost frictionless trade across the new Irish Sea border.
But no matter how gently this was presented, an Irish Sea border has become a living reality, courtesy of Boris Johnson.
This was the same Boris Johnson that the DUP enthusiastically supported to become Prime Minister.
This was the same Boris Johnson, who promised to oppose such a border at the DUP's own party conference.
Throughout the Brexit saga and all its many twists and turns, the DUP have mystifyingly supported Brexit, as if it were an article of faith.
They have done so, notwithstanding that there was a 56% cross-community vote here in favour of remaining.
It is estimated that there was a 30% + unionist vote to remain. They did so for a variety of reasons, but primarily because remaining within the European Union made economic sense.
For unionist farmers ,who benefited substantially from European common agricultural policy, it was a no-brainer.
For others, free trade with Europe made good sense. These were not people with covert political agendas, but rather businessmen and women driven by serious concerns for the future of our regional economy.
Why was it that the DUP decided to doggedly support Brexit? It is not that they campaigned energetically to leave Europe.
In fact, although they supported the Leave campaign, their approach was fairly laid-back. Indeed, some of their MLAs privately admitted that they voted for the UK to remain within Europe.
In the aftermath of the referendum result, local business organisations and their various spokespersons warned clearly and repeatedly, the need to avoid a hard Brexit in order to protect businesses and jobs here.
Despite the convincing arguments and warnings from the leaders of local business and farming organisations, the DUP stubbornly supported not just Brexit, but a hard Brexit.
DUP MPs, buoyed up with their kingmaker role at Westminster, went on a solo run on Brexit and happily flirted with Eurosceptic Tories pushing for a No-Deal Brexit.
The DUP opposed Theresa May's Brexit deal with Brussels, voting against it and thereby helping to push her out of office.
May's deal would have kept the UK as a whole within the EU Customs Union and provided a backstop, which would have guaranteed an open Irish border in all circumstances.
This was ideal for the local economy, as it kept us within the EU. It was a Brexit deal, which prevented the madness of a No-Deal. It was the best of both worlds economically.
In the event, to the DUP's glee, Boris got rid of the hated backstop, but then he negotiated a worse deal as far as unionism was concerned.
With Leo Varadkar, he negotiated a new deal in Cheshire, which included what was to become the contentious Northern Ireland Protocol.
This was the basis for a new agreement with the EU, that included the dreaded regulatory border down the Irish Sea.
Throughout, the DUP were outsmarted and betrayed by Boris.
It is little wonder then that Lord Empy of the Ulster Unionists, was able to launch a devastating attack on the DUP for supporting Boris and thereby facilitating the creation of an Irish Sea border.
This happened despite Arlene Foster's declaration, that an Irish sea border was a "blood" red line for her and her party.
Without doubt the DUP have suffered a humiliating blow to their political credibility.
Their plight is self-inflicted and more to the point it was glaringly predictable.
With a little gumption they would surely have avoided putting their faith in the perfidious Boris Johnson. They are truly authors of their own misfortune. Nobody else can be blamed.
While they have usually been good at tactics, they have been poor at strategy.
The TUV leader, Jim Allister pithily summed up unionist fears by saying that there is now, "partition down the Irish sea" and that, "the EU's gameplan has left Northern Ireland in a waiting room for Irish unity".
It may be hard for many unionists to disagree.
