Posted on 03/28/2016 7:47:48 AM PDT by TheThirdRuffian
Donald Trump is likely on the verge of losing the Republican primary, falling short of the number of delegates required to win the presidential nomination. But, as bullies are wont to do, Trump is now trying desperately to change the rules—to argue that the nomination should go not to the candidate who wins 1,237 delegates but to whoever comes closest.
What’s wrong with that argument? Electing a U.S. president is not a schoolyard game, where goalposts change when bullies whine. There’s a reason a candidate has to make it to 1,237 votes to win the nomination. Each party’s goal is to put forth a nominee whom the party’s members, represented by their elected delegates, believe will best reflect the party’s collective judgment—a determination possible only when the level of support is clear and convincing. That’s why both parties set a benchmark, the political equivalent of the tape at the finishing line of a race, sufficient to establish the party’s preference. In a hundred-yard dash, a runner who beats the others but who can only manage 95 yards doesn’t go home with a medal.
At the convention this summer, assuming that none of Trump’s primary opponents will have reached that magic number either, the delegates will vote on who they think best represents the Republican Party until a single candidate does receive the necessary votes. It is this candidate, the one who is able actually to cross the finish line, who will win the right to become the party’s nominee. That person could be Trump, but it probably won’t be.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
We’ve had this discussion. So I won’t chew your ear again on this thread. (Well, maybe just a little bit.)
Your position on the issue still confounds me. A contested convention embodies the spirit of a representative republic. An elected body of delegates must have a process to resolve conflicts. Not having a candidate with a majority is a conflict.
Actually, it is. The GOPe have tried to change the rules on Trump.
Me personally, I'm sick of ALL the political parties (Repub / Dem is really all one Uniparty anyway).
Funny, they had a rules change in 2012 that caused quite a stir...guess you forgot about that.
It was driven by Romney.
“I’d first like to know exactly in what formal missive did Trump convey this “con” to convention officials? Is there a copy? Was there a response? Were the officials even assembled? Have they been assembled yet?”
These are good questions and I’d like to see the answers, too.
I’ve certainly heard the argument from the Trump camp that if he is in the lead, but short of 1237, he should get the nomination, but I’ve never seen any sort of official position paper, either.
Neither Trump nor Cruz will be the Republican nominee......watch and see.
Me too. I don’t give a damn about ‘Republican’ anymore.
At this point it does not matter who is the Republican nominee because whoever it is will lose to Hillary easily. What the GOPe was doing to the party was bad enough. Now the candidates have done all they possibly can to destroy this party’s chances in November with their insults and petty, childish behavior. As hard as it is for a Trump supporter to understand, 65% of the electorate cant stand him and his big mouth, his insults and his bragging and would never vote for him. Cruz is done in by his women issues. Kasich is a bleeding heart progressive and whoever the compromise candidate would be will be a GOPe type who cant win.
The Republican party has already elected Hillary.
cruz who was against the establishment he said is now for what the establishment wants, because he has seen his failed campaign.
Sadly now a vote for cruz is a vote for the establishment.
If it really were as simple as that, I may be ok with it. But this won't be that simple. This will be used by the establishment to put their guy in, period. Nothing else matters to the GOP at this point, other than getting their guy in and continuing the uniparty, DC gravy train. I won't be party to that any longer.
“Keeping up with Politico’s anti-Trump stories is about impossible anymore.”
If I had a dollar for every...
The nomination will be the ultimate test of his deal making ability in his new sandbox of American politics.
If he can maneuver this mine field and negotiate his way to the prize, he will have earned the self proclaimed title as the worlds best deal maker.
I am pulling for him.
“Your position on the issue still confounds me. A contested convention embodies the spirit of a representative republic. An elected body of delegates must have a process to resolve conflicts. Not having a candidate with a majority is a conflict.”
I agree. I just take it as a threat or sharp talk.
Of course if no one wins the required 1237, it should go to the delegates. That’s what a REPUBLIC does.
Now, would it be insanely stupid to not nominate Trump if he has 1236 and the next person was in the 800s? Yes.
But if you have two in the high hundreds, game on.
That’s how the country works.
That is totally false and surely you must know it. I hope you do anyway.
Check, rule 40
IOW, the process is undemocratic; for our own good of course.
More proof that we live in an oligarchy.
“The problem is, you know full well what they will do, and that will be to put up the most hard core, establishment jackboot licking guy they got, probably Romulan or Ryan. The moment the establishment guy is chosen is the very moment the ballot box quits working.”
I agree the GOPe is probably that stupid.
But hopefully not.
Country has been going to heck ever since we let anyone besides white male landowners over the age of 25 vote.
The article references changing from a majority to a plurality. The GOP has had a majority rule since its founding, while Democrats had a TWO-THIRDS rule for a hundred years.
The two-thirds rule was the reason the Democrats took over 100 votes in 1924.
What the media has in common with conservative liberal and every other flavor of media is that they are always there to tell you what is not possible. They are unable to tell you how to get anything accomplished but they are always able to tell you why you will fail or lose.
Something odd there. You would think that if they believe in their opinions they would also be able to tell us all what solutions would work.
“IOW, the process is undemocratic; for our own good of course.”
Well, we live in a Republic.
It’s designed to temper the unwise passions of the unwashed masses since 350 BC or whenever they created the model.
If Trump wins California, he wins 1,236. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t.
If he wins California, it’ll be hard to say that he’s not acceptable to the majority of Republican voters. If he doesn’t, Cruz can make the argument that he wins head-to-head, and should be the nominee.
To anyone who reads this: I make no comment about the likelihood of either scenario, so please don’t “scream” obscenities at me.
I want to see honest opinion from what little conservatives sources there are still left. I certainly don’t need nor want any opinions from the media venues here that keep being cited to divide us here on FR because factions hate Trump for this or that.
My ENEMY right now is GOP establishment and their dogged insistence to maintain that second-tier power they exercise even though they have true first-tier power in keeping Obama from doing all the damage he plans.
I want that DC cabal destroyed, frankly. They know nothing about drive-by America (nor care) and they can’t be salvaged, bitch slapped or enticed (2014 elections should have told them that but they think was a status quo mandate).
They either accept and recognize the pain, or the come down. It is that simple.
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