This is why we need a Trump win on the first ballot. I've said for weeks that (1) I don't expect the "Trump" delegates to be loyal to Trump, and (2) I would be amazed if they defected from Trump and voted Cruz in the second ballot.
I'm a Cruz supporter, and we disagree on that, but we agree that the establishment pick would be worse than either Trump or Cruz. That's why I'll vote for Trump. Too many delegates are there to support an establishment pick, once the first round demonstrates that neither Trump nor Cruz has a majority and the second round shows that neither is gaining support.
There are options, including one really good Trump-Cruz deal that almost guarantees a Trump win in the first round. But it's premature to discuss those - I don't want an establishment rules change before the convention opens. For now, the best chance Trump has is to win as many bound delegates as possible and to try to pick loyal ones when the party permits him to. Trump's best chance other than uncontested elections is with two opponents, so we want Cruz to stay in as long as Kasich does.
The fix is in so Trump won’t win on the first vote, then we’ll all going to hear that talking point “the rules are the rules” and then surefire-loser stupidity ensues.
From the article:
“...Morris said he and and Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Ryan Hayes agreed Wednesday on seven of the 14 at-large delegates that are to be appointed to the state’s delegation to the convention, but when he got a list of names later in the week, the delegates they agreed on were replaced by “anti-Trump” names. ...”
OK, they agreed on how many were Trump delegates (7 out of 14) and then Hayes swapped out those 7 !!!!???!!!
Jjotto, that’s what I was worried about...
Messing with delegates.
How many more States are they gonna do this to?