Don G. Dinsdale Loc: El Cajon, CA (San Diego County)

NEWS FROM THE HILL

Several people have written that the RNC/GOP Establishment types (the corruptibles) would rather see Hillary than Trump because of their perks and payoffs, power & money run DC and anyone threatening that is doomed just as we are... Don D.


GOP Could Pay Heavy Price For Contesting Trump Nomination

By Niall Stanage - Mar 18, 2016


Donald Trump’s critics within the GOP are desperate to find a way to stop him from becoming the nominee at the Republican National Convention in July.

But even if that scenario is mathematically possible — a prospect that would require Trump to fall short of the magic number of 1,237 pledged delegates — it may not be politically feasible to wrest the nomination away from a candidate who will almost certainly have won many more contests than any of his rivals.

Trump warned during an interview with CNN’s “New Day” on Wednesday that “you’d have r**ts” if he ended up close to the 1,237 mark only to be denied. The mention of r**ting earned him a rebuke from Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who said the next day that “nobody should say such things, in my opinion.”

Regardless of the merits of raising the specter of unrest, there is no doubt that taking the nomination away from Trump would spark enormous outrage among the businessman’s supporters. But Republicans who believe that his nomination could devastate the party’s chances in down-b****t e******ns — and harm the GOP’s image for years to come — might believe that is a price worth paying.

“The Republicans are damned if they do and damned if they don’t,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a Boston University professor who specializes in political communications. Berkovitz said that while “it is certainly a realistic fear that Candidate Trump will take down all the down-b****t stuff,” any attempt to thwart him would be fraught with difficulty.

Berkovitz said that in that scenario, Trump’s supporters “would say, ‘We wuz robbed.’ Okay, he didn’t get a majority, but he came very close and it was very clear through the primary process that he was the preferred candidate, fair and square.”

Trump’s opponents seem sure to continue trying to capsize him, regardless of how much resistance they meet.

On Thursday, influential conservative activists including RedState founder Erick Erickson held a meeting at Washington’s Army Navy Club to try to find a way to thwart Trump. One option under discussion appeared to be a “unity ticket,” perhaps involving Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is currently running second to Trump, and the other major candidate still in the GOP race, Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

If a unity ticket “is unable to get 1,237 delegates prior to the convention, we recognize that it took Abraham Lincoln three b****ts at the Republican convention in 1860 to become the party's nominee and if it is good enough for Lincoln, that process should be good enough for all the candidates without threats of r**ts,” Erickson wrote afterward.

Such suggestions aren’t just being heard on the right. On Wednesday afternoon, The Washington Post published an editorial online headlined, “To defend our democracy against Trump, the GOP must aim for a brokered convention.”

“Does a respect for democracy require the Republican Party to anoint its leading v**e-getter? Hardly,” the Post claimed. “We are not advocating that rules be broken but that they be employed to maximum effect — to force a brokered convention and nominate a conservative candidate who respects the Constitution, or to defeat Mr. Trump in some other way.”

Much will depend upon the delegate specifics at the time the convention is gaveled to order in Cleveland. At present, Trump has 678 delegates to Cruz’s 413. The now-defunct campaign of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has 169 delegates while Kasich holds 143.

There are 19 contests left, with more than 1,000 delegates left to be won.

Trump’s critics are eager to point out that, if he keeps winning delegates at his current percentages, he will fall short of 1,237. But the businessman’s supporters counter that this analysis is flawed because most contests so far have awarded delegates proportionately, whereas there are a rash of winner-take-all and winner-take-most contests looming.

“We’re prepared for every scenario. But what we should do, and what we are doing, is spending most of our time trying to get to 1,237,” said Barry Bennett, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign. Bennett expressed confidence that the campaign’s goal would be achieved, insisting that the shift in how delegates were parceled out “changes the dynamic. It’s a big deal. We’re going to walk away with 80 to 90 percent” of the delegates still up for grabs.

Even Republican strategists who are not Trump supporters acknowledge that the businessman probably does not have to reach 1,237 itself. It would be sufficient for him to come close. Conversely, he needs to finish a significant distance short of that marker for any effort to rebuff him to have a chance of succeeding, the experts suggest.

“The closer Trump gets to the magic number, and the closer we get to the convention, the more momentum Trump is going to have,” said strategist Matt Mackowiak, who writes for The Hill's Contributors blog. “If he is above 1,200 it would be tough to deny him. ... If he is at 1,050 or 1,100, that is far enough where he could have an issue.”

Bennett, the Trump adviser, insisted that he believed his boss would hit the target. “But even if he is, say, 30 v**es short, that is half the seats on the [convention] floor, minus 30. It’s over. I think we are more likely to get 1,500 than we are to get 1,200.”



Contested Convention is Looking More Likely, Says Speaker Ryan

By Scott Wong - March 17, 2016


Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Thursday there’s no chance he’ll emerge as the GOP p**********l nominee if no candidate captures enough delegates before this summer’s convention.

For the first time, however, Ryan acknowledged the increasing likelihood that the GOP nominee will be decided in Cleveland at what’s known as a contested or open convention.

Donald Trump is the clear front-runner, but whether he can clinch the nomination by winning 1,237 delegates before the party's July convention remains to be seen.

“Nothing has changed other than the perception that this is more likely to be an open convention than we thought before,” Ryan, the ceremonial chairman of the convention, told reporters. “We’re getting our minds around the idea that this could very well become a reality and that those of us who are involved in the convention need to respect that.”

The Speaker’s comments Thursday suggest party leaders are beginning tp prepare for a floor fight at the convention at Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland.

When The Hill asked him in January about a possible contested convention, Ryan dismissed the idea.

“I think it’s ridiculous to talk about it,” he said at the GOP retreat in Baltimore.

But now, as convention chairman, Ryan said he’ll need to “bone up” on not only his ceremonial duties but also on the party rules governing what’s expected to be a raucous, unpredictable convention.

Ryan, Mitt Romney’s 2012 vice p**********l running mate, also attempted to end the rampant speculation that he might be nominated if v****g in Cleveland goes to multiple b****ts. His predecessor, former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), suggested on Wednesday that he’d back Ryan if no one has enough v**es on the first b****t.

“It is not me. ... I saw Boehner last night and I told him to knock it off,” Ryan said. “I used slightly different words. I used his own words that he used against us when he told us to knock things off.

“It’s not going to be me. It should be someone running for president. ... Let’s just put this thing to rest and move on.”

Ryan is increasingly being drawn into the fight within the GOP over Trump.

As chairman of the party's nominating convention, Ryan is neutral in the primary race, but he's clashed with Trump on a number of occasions.

On Friday, the Speaker publicly rebuked Trump for a fourth time — this time for suggesting there could be "r**ts" if he doesn't win the nomination at this summer's convention in Cleveland.

"Nobody should say such things, in my opinion," Ryan said, "because to even address or hint at violence is unacceptable."

Earlier this week, the Speaker suggested Trump needed to take some responsibility for some of the violence that has broken out at his recent rallies, calling it "very concerning." Ryan recently scolded the billionaire businessman for failing to forcefully disavow an endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

And last year, Ryan blasted Trump for proposing a ban on Muslims from entering the United States, calling it unconstitutional and un-American.

"If anybody, not just Donald Trump, if anybody is out there representing the Republican Party in ways that we believe disfigures conservatism ... I, as a party leader, and others I assume as well have an obligation to defend our principles from being distorted. And we're going to continue doing that," Ryan said Thursday.

But he previously has said he will support whoever wins the GOP nomination, and on Thursday said he did not believe he will have to denounce Trump's candidacy.

In an interview with CNBC, Ryan said he will find a way to work with Trump if he's the party's nominee.

“We’ll make it work if it happens,” Ryan said. “I’m going to defend our ideas as the Republican Party, but we’re going to have to work with whoever our nominee is.”

The Speaker said he believes a Trump presidency would be less harmful than a Democrat succeeding President Obama.

“If we have another presidency like this presidency, then I really do worry that the best days will be behind us, and that’s the problem.”

jimahrens Loc: California

The Republicans have only themselves to blame for the position there in. The RNC let there members walk away from there promises. They deserve what they literally begged for.

Don G. Dinsdale Loc: El Cajon, CA (San Diego County)

I agree, it's all about money & power in D.C., RNC is supported by GOP members and big money donors who tell them all when to s**t... So you and I and the rest of the 'little people' are left wondering how many years of Socialist - C*******t - Muslim rule we must put up with... Many, I mean many who I talk with nearly daily are suggest a "civil war" is coming (I hope not as that's what Obama wants, ie: Marshal Law!), so the answer is a People's Party ie: Tea Party to have our voices heard... Don D.

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jimahrens Loc: California

I know it may sound crazy but just maybe that is what it's going to take for our Government to listen to the people they work for. They have the attitude that we work for them. I have noticed a change in the Tea Party not sure that is answer.

Workinman Loc: Bayou Pigeon

Unfortunately Jim I think you are right...

jimahrens Loc: California

Yes it is sad. I remember back when the Dems had good people too. But those days are gone in the name of greed and deception.