Changing rule 40(B) would require a majority vote of the delegates, and if Cruz and Trump have them it’s not happening. Even the RNC delegates are supposed to vote with winner of their state.
If Ryno & Co. try any fancy footwork to throw the election to the Democrats, to save their own hides, that’s the end of the GOP.
Of course it may be kaput anyway with Trump and Cruz driving.
It’s good to have the establishment by the short & curlies.
It's not that cut and dried. There are a couple of things to consider:
First, in most of the states (more than 40, I think), the actual delegates are not selected in the primary or caucus. All that is determined by the vote is how many delegates are bound to vote for a particular candidates for the nomination, and even that is only for the first ballot in most cases. The actual delegates are chosen later, usually at district and state GOP conventions where the state party has a lot of influence. So just because a delegate is bound to vote for Trump on the first ballot, for example, does not mean that the delegate actually supports Trump for president. And they have NO obligation to vote the way Trump wants on any other convention business, including rule changes.
The other thing to consider is that if they have a rule change they want to pass and are not sure they have the votes, the chair can call for a voice vote. And if the chair says "the ayes have it", that is pretty much the end of the story.
Whether they would use that option to change the rules over the objection of the candidates or not is uncertain - they used the voice vote option in 2012, I believe, to make the change to rule 40(b). Even though the Paul supporters were louder in the "nay" votes, the chair still declared that the "ayes" won.
I thought that the rules were already changed, freeing the delegates on the first ballot. It was done in 2012 to shut out the Libertarians.
I think that is the reason that the Libertarians latched onto Trump. They tried destroying the Conservatives and working with McConnell through Rand Paul. That didn’t work out, so now they are out to defeat the Establishment, too.
TRUMP has met the 8 state strategy already. It is unlikely Cruz will, but I am no mathematician. TRUMP is only picking up momentum, pace and speed.
Hoping for 1237 to put a stop to the foolishness.