The nomination is secured by a vote of the delegates. It is a binary condition with respect to each candidate. Either yes, you have at least 1237 votes or no you do not have at least 1237 votes. No Mulligans or gimmies in this. You simply tally the votes in successive ballots until someone is nominated. Having 1234, 1235, or 1236 delegates voting for you in any given ballot, does not make you the nominee, no matter how much you wet the bed over it.
The rules are very transparent, and not knowing the rules, or not working within the process, according to the rules, is not an excuse to go out and blame conspiracies and secret processes.
“The Rules of the GOP are posted on line”
Their shenanigans aren’t.
We don’t care about the GOPe and their “rules” anymore, if the majority is disenfranchised by “the rules”, watch the Republican Party go the way of an old wet cigar. The GOPe better realize, they might want to make sure the “new rules” give the nomination to whoever the base voted for. Or watch their cigar get smashed in their face.