When Donald Trump defeated Ted Cruz in Indiana on May 3, the GOP nominating contest was over. Trump was the presumptive nominee. But as major controversy and internal turmoil continue to plague the billionaire’s campaign — and his poll numbers recede into a clear general election disadvantage — Trump’s opponents within the party continue to discuss the possibility of planning an insurrection in Cleveland. They argue that Trump won less than 50 percent of the vote in the GOP primary, despite facing virtually no opponents in the final month of voting, and that his weakness against Hillary Clinton squanders a very promising opportunity to defeat the unpopular and tainted Democratic nominee. But hasn’t Trump reached the magic number of 1,237, winning a majority of the delegates pledged? How could the GOP convention strip him of the crown he won under the rules? By changing the rules or declaring them nonbinding. Weekly Standard reports:
The call, organized by Colorado activists Kendal Unruh and Regina Thomson, included a series of updates on the status of the project to exploit RNC rules to block Trump’s nomination at the convention. The umbrella organization Free the Delegates 2016 argues that a fair interpretation of party rules and state laws across the country gives delegates to national conventions the ability to “vote their conscience” in the first round of votingThe confederation of activists and delegates hopes to leverage both the RNC Rules Committee and the convention floor itself to show party loyalists that they have the ability to vote however they see fit — and hopefully against Trump.The movement is growing. The more we talk about it, the more delegates talk to each other, the more courage they gain,” Unruh said during the conversation...People involved in the effort appear to have come from several camps and wings of the broader conservative movement. Speakers on Sunday’s call included former New Hampshire Sen. Gordon Humphrey (who endorsed John Kasich in the primary), activist James Lamb (who endorsed Marco Rubio), and Iowa radio host Steve Deace and New Jersey politician Steve Lonegan (both of whom endorsed Ted Cruz). Much of the call focused on updates on various parts of the bill, such as a Virginia activist challenging his state’s bonded delegate laws… During Sunday’s call, she declared that the unbonded delegate movement is “on the right side of history.” Unruh is a disciple of Curley Haugland, a North Dakota RNC member who has long advocated for delegates to vote their consciences and has even published a free e-book on the subject.
Here are some ads Trump’s opponents are running in the hope of persuading delegates to oppose or change the process by which the convention is conducted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPDsIB4S4ps
A few points before we get to the party establishment’s response to this growing rebellion: While I have staunchly opposed Trump, I have always maintained that the rules set out at the beginning of the 2016 election cycle were clear and should be followed. That’s why so many in the #NeverTrump camp have lambasted the then-frontrunner for complaining about a “rigged” system when the results didn’t go his way during the primaries. After he lost, he made baseless and unfounded allegations of fraud or cheating in an attempt to overturn the results. His campaign has also spent a lot of time promoting the message that even if Trump fails to secure the delegates needed to stave off a contentious convention, he should still be nominated as the top vote-getter. It is that’s not how the rules work– his conservative opponents replied. If you want that victory, you have to earn it. And you know what? He deserved it. To change tack halfway through and start claiming that established principles (and people’s votes) shouldn’t matter is deeply disingenuous. It demonstrates an “ends justify the means” mentality – and the means, in this case, is mass disenfranchisement. The Republican National Committee, which is more or less action Trump’s entire field game at this point is moving decisively to crush any rebellion convention:
The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee are moving quickly and aggressively to thwart an emerging attempt to organize a mutiny at their convention next month in Cleveland, hoping to spare the party an embarrassing spectacle that could deeply wound the presumptive nominee. using ruthless tactics, warning delegates that attempts to undermine Donald J. Trump’s claim to the nomination violate party rules and threatening to deny speaking slots to Republicans they deem disloyal for not supporting him…The RNC and the Trump campaign as well installing devoted party members in key party positions to ensure they maintain control of the convention if rogue delegates attempt to disrupt it. And they are trying to discredit Republicans who favor an interpretation of party rules that would allow delegates to vote for whomever they want in the first round of voting.
Their actions are designed to support Mr. Trump against a faction of Republicans who, emboldened by his recent missteps, say their efforts to stage a coup at the convention are gaining increasing support. Last week, prominent Republicans such as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker breathed recent life into the effort, saying delegates should be free to follow their consciences rather than be bound to support a candidate. Keeping the presumptive nominee at the convention — one who has won 37 states and has an undisputed majority of delegates — would be an extraordinary insult and seems unlikely at this point. But Even if anti-Trump forces fail, the scene that threatens to spread across national television will be unwelcome to Mr. Trump and the Republican Party: a group of incensed, rebellious delegates trying to seize control of the convention and collect the nomination.
I am not sure that “we will deny you a speaking slot” is a particularly powerful threat this cycle; the party is apparently he has problems find celebrities who are willing to speak on Trump’s behalf, and in the form in which it is possible, growing list elected Republicans announcing their intention to cancel their trip to northern Ohio altogether. New York Times’ The story goes on to report that RNC officials have deployed “about a dozen agents to ensure that the nominating vote goes smoothly,” and that attorneys are advising “state party leaders on how to fend off anti-Trump activity, prompting party chairmen from Minnesota to Washington state to issue admonitions to delegates who might be thinking of breaking their duty to vote for Mr. Trump.” Taken together, this latest attempt to “dump Trump” seems even more ill-fated than previous, more plausible efforts; the party establishment apparatus is mobilizing to protect its candidate. I’ll leave you with Allahpundit’s cynical, but not all that unrealistic, view of how can they be rewarded for this faithfulness:
Priebus and his team will be rewarded in the fall if/when Trump loses popularity and spends the final month of the campaign at rallies complaining that an incompetent “establishment” sabotaged him. There is a real possibility that in mid-November, Trump supporters, Republicans, will start to despise the RNC for somehow losing the election to Trump, and Trump opponents, Republicans, will start to despise the RNC for not fighting harder to keep Trump out of the nomination when the opportunity arose. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or oblivion. Sounds good.
By the way, this “forgetting quote” is not a hyperbolic, heavy-breathing AP. It direct quote, documented (!) from a member of the Republican Party Rules Committee: “We’ll ride the Trump wagon to 1600 Penn Ave. or into oblivion… One or the other.”
