The delegates, and a simple majority.
Which is why the premise of this article is silly: if Trump goes into the convention with 1237 votes (and I think he probably will), his delegates are not going to vote to require more than 1237 votes for the nomination. If he goes into the convention with fewer than 1237 delegates, there will be no need to change the rule to stop Trump.
Apparently you haven’t been reading all the articles saying the RNC (and all #NeverTrump people) are working to ensure that Trojan Horses are put in as Trump delegates.... people who aren’t true Trump supporters... so that they can vote against Trump at the convention. There are plenty of unbound votes that are going to convention.
Trump needs to have far more than 1237 delegates by convention, if he hopes to survive the rule-making.
If Trump has a majority he can hold on to the rule.
There are a minimum of 3 delegates per primary race that are NOT chosen by the candidate, but are chosen by the party bosses. That is 171 delegates that may be obligated to vote for a candidate but are NOT obligated to protect that candidates issues on rules changes. Then there are the shenanigans about “at-large” and even district level delegates being “assigned” to vote Trump but not necessarily Trump loyalists for rule changes.
If the establishment doesn’t wake up soon and stop this nonsense of defying the voters, they are going to find themselves the heads of a party with no members. Even if we all unite behind their candidate and beat the immediate threat of Hillary or Bernie or Biden, the exodus will still happen and in 2018 they will lose the House.
Immediately after this election they could be patting themselves on the back right up until the big news story is the formation of a new party and the mass re-registration away from the GOP.
Except his delegates are not necessarily Trump supporters. Part of the shenanigans going on lately.
The only thing they owe him is the first round ballot.
And who are those delegates? A lot of them, how many depending on each state's selection rules, are party hacks who know the ropes to become delegates. They'll vote against the rule and then say "but I voted for Trump" on the actual ballot. We are SO used to that game in DC.
The only answer is we will not accept anyone else, and the party is over if it happens. Personally, I will not vote for anyone who has endorsed or in the future endorses any Republican except for Trump. (I hope Senator Portman and our local state rep enjoy their new careers)
The dems rigged the nomination ahead of time. Their convention environment could get weird, too. If the political party gets away with this it is OVER for our political freedoms and for the US as an independent lation with a future.
if Trump goes into the convention with 1237 votes (and I think he probably will), his delegates are not going to vote to require more than 1237 votes for the nomination.
But what if, as we’ve heard, some delegates are being put in place to vote for Trump on the first ballot, but afterwards, they will vote for who they really want.
If so, and they’re not really for Trump, what’s to keep them from changing the rules to some other needed vote total that Trump didn’t achieve?
if Trump goes into the convention with 1237 votes (and I think he probably will), his delegates are not going to vote to require more than 1237 votes for the nomination.
But what if, as we’ve heard, some delegates are being put in place to vote for Trump on the first ballot, but afterwards, they will vote for who they really want.
If so, and they’re not really for Trump, what’s to keep them from changing the rules to some other needed vote total that Trump didn’t achieve?