Republicans hoping to keep the GOP nomination out of Donald Trump’s hands on Sunday announced plans to raise money for staff and a possible legal defense fund, according to a Washington Post report.
“Free The Delegates,” a newly branded group of disgruntled Republican National Convention delegates who don’t want to support the party’s presumptive nominee, are formalizing their last-ditch effort to derail Trump with less than a month to go until the convention in Cleveland.
Previous #NeverTrump movements have failed to get off the ground. David French, the National Review writer floated as a third-party alternative to Trump, backed out within days of Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol naming him as his pick.
Regina Thomson, a co-founder of “Free The Delegates,” told the Post that the group’s ultimate goal is to change party rules so that delegates can cast their votes for any candidate they choose, rather than in line with the results of state primaries and caucuses.
Trump secured the number of delegates needed to win the nomination outright in May, and was far ahead of the rest of the GOP field in the popular vote before those candidates dropped out of the race.
Officials including Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus have said that delegates are bound to the will of the voters as expressed in primary and convention results. RNC spokesman Sean Spicer on Friday dismissed plans to overthrow Trump at the convention as “silly” media speculation.
Trump himself said attempts to “steal” the nomination from him were “totally illegal,” charging that former 2016 candidates Jeb Bush and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) were plotting against him.
“Free the Delegates” leaders told the Post that their campaign has nothing to do with any of Trump’s former rivals. According to organizers, 1,000 Republicans participated in the group’s Sunday night conference call pushing to raise money so that the group could identify other delegates wary of Trump and hire staff to assist their campaign on the ground in Cleveland.
They see House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) repeated claims that delegates should be able to change the rules at the convention as a wink of approval.
“Paul Ryan signed our permission slip,” Kendal Unruh, one of the group’s founders, told the Post.
Ryan said in a Sunday interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Republicans should feel free to vote their “conscience” on Trump.
Hmm —
I think I’ll send them $ 27 $ —
This has no chance of succeeding… but I’ll bet they have more staff and cash on hand than the Trump campaign by the end of the week.
If the Dems don’t take this opportunity to crush the GOP, then they have no idea how to play the game. No More Mr. Nice Guy. The complete collapse of the GOP is in sight. And the icing on the cake: It’s a chance to get a Supreme Court that actually reflects the values of the vast majority of Americans. The GOP reign of terror can be stopped if the Dems grow a pair and deliver the coup de grâce. As Elizabeth Warren instructed: Don’t Screw This Up!
#WhatAreYouAfraidOfTrump?
Why should the winningest candidate ever be afraid of delegates voting their conscience?
Of course they will vote for the winner.
That would be a safe bet. Whether these characters succeed or not, the nominee is doomed in the General.