Last Ditch Effort to Dump Trump Unlikely to Succeed

Sarah Palin speaking at 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Photo by: twinkletoez
Sarah Palin speaking at 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Photo by: twinkletoez

As the GOP National Convention looms large before unhappy Republicans, desperate plans are being hatched to block the nomination of Donald Trump as the party’s choice to run for president.

The disgruntled Republicans to the convention are exploring a bevy of parliamentary tactics in the hopes of at least disrupting the convention, if not getting rid of Trump as a candidate, which is what they would really like to see.

The planned strategy presently is to try and stop the 2,472 delegates from a Monday vote on a new set of party rules. This would be a rejection of what was already passed last Thursday by the Convention Rules Committee. The anti-Trump people are looking for signatures from delegates so that there will be a recorded vote on the rules plan. In order to guarantee a vote, they need to obtain the support of the majorities in seven separate delegations. If they succeed here, which is unlikely, the next hoop they will have to jump through involves getting the entire convention to reject the rules and add new language which would free the delegates to reject Trump.

“I’m not going to let the Rules Committee think that they’re relevant,” said Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate and leader of the “Free the Delegates” movement. “I’m not going to empower them anymore. The power has been and will continue to be in the hands of the delegates.”

Another strategy to derail Trump involves holding a convention-wide debate on Kendal Unruh’s proposal to “unbind” delegates from their obligation to support Trump. Unruh, who is a delegate from Colorado would do this with something called a “minority report.”

“I’m not going to let the Rules Committee think that they’re relevant,” said Unruh, a leader of the “Free the Delegates” movement. “I’m not going to empower them anymore. The power has been and will continue to be in the hands of the delegates.”

Gail Nussbaum

Gail Nussbaum has been involved in politics and diplomacy for over 15 years. Her interest in foreign relations, economics and budget policy has led her to her position as fiscal policy writer at Left Justified. Gail can be contacted at gailnussbaum(at)leftjustified.com.

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