Donald Trump, a showman and untested political leader, appears to have the Republican presidential nomination sewn up. How does that make us feel? To quote Trump on Twitter: Sad!
Donald Trump, a showman and untested political leader, appears to have the Republican presidential nomination sewn up. How does that make us feel? To quote Trump on Twitter: Sad!
But don’t rule out a surprise twist in what has been the most confounding and discouraging campaign season of our time. There remains a chance Republican delegates to the convention in Cleveland will be freed of their obligation to support Trump and permitted — as conservative writer William Kristol put it — to vote their conscience. How are we feeling now? Slightly hopeful.
Thursday’s Wall Street Journal reported in detail on the movement among some Republican leaders to change the rules and open the convention to a new nominating contest, even though Trump secured enough delegates to win in the first round. It’s all about persuading party faithful to recognize that Trump’s divisive political style and worrisomely unorthodox approach to running for president require a second vetting. From the Journal’s news story: “It’s a long shot, but by some counts (the anti-Trump forces) are remarkably close to getting past the first hurdle next week in Cleveland.”
The process would work this way: When the party rules committee meets ahead of the July 18-21 convention, Trump dissenters and skeptics will seek a vote on a change that would allow Trump-committed delegates to support whomever they want. The measure would need the support of 28 rules committee members — that’s one-quarter the total of 112 — to pass. The Journal says it found 20 members ready to consider the idea, plus 33 more whose views could not be determined. Other sources cited by the Journal say there are as few as 15 or possibly more than 30 members who like the idea of unshackling delegates.
Both sides are aggressively making their case to fellow delegates. If the provision passes muster with the rules committee, all convention delegates would vote on the rule change. Anti-Trumpers would need 1,237 votes — half the delegates — to get their way. Given that Trump has about 890 delegates personally loyal to him and 680 in opposition, the Journal reports, getting to 1,237 would require persuading nearly two-thirds of remaining delegates to take a defiant stand.
This would not be a coup — the rules committee is doing its work by formulating the rules — but it sure would make for a chaotic convention, with the possibility of Republicans settling on a different nominee for president. Yes, it’s a long shot. Yes, appeasing dissenters risks further destabilizing the Republican Party. But the party — and the country — are deeply divided over Trump’s candidacy, as Bernie Sanders Democrats are over Hillary Clinton’s. …
Trump got this far by exerting brute force of personality and following the rules in primary and caucus states. But the convention is a party function; its rules are what delegates decide they are. We hope rules committee members, and then all delegates, exert their power to weigh other options and then choose their party’s best possible nominee. That is not Donald Trump. …
Election Day is four months away. Republicans are about to nominate their candidate. They have one final opportunity on the calendar to rethink the path of this campaign and the future of their party. Do GOP leaders really want to stick it out with Donald Trump? We hope their answer is no.
— Chicago Tribune