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Never Trump Forces Halted on Convention Floor
Many were predicting a floor battle Monday at the the Republican National Convention and they certainly got one.
A group of delegates, led by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Ken Cuccinelli of Virginia, sought to unbind delegates from voting for the presumptive Republican nominee. A majority of delegates from nine states had agreed to their plan for a roll call vote on the official party rules, and they only needed seven states to make the plan stick. Another key part to their effort was to encourage states to hold closed primaries, allowing only Republicans to vote.
Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas was presiding at the time and insisted on a voice vote only. Many Never Trump supporters in the crowd shouted “roll call vote” and “point of order,” while pro-Trump delegates chanted his name to shout them down.
Womack abandoned the stage, leaving both sides in confusion wondering what was going on. After several minutes, he returned and announced that that three states had withdrawn support for a roll call vote, which means the measure had fallen short of the seven-state threshold. Another voice vote was held (the volume of which sounded even from the televised coverage), and Womack quickly declared the “Free the Delegates” plan dead and buried.
The crowd loudly expressed their pleasure and displeasure as Montana Sen. John Barasso took the stage for a low-energy speech demanding unity. But there were few signs of it on the convention floor.
“I have never seen anything like this,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a close ally of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a rival to presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“There is no precedent for this,” Lee said.
…After being denied the roll call vote, most of the delegation from Colorado walked off the floor in protest, leaving behind rows of empty seats.
…”It’s certainly disrespectful of the grassroots,” said former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, an influential rules committee member who had worked to whip enough support from the rules vote. “You win races with people, you lose races with people.”
“It’s all on them,” he said of the RNC before acknowledging the fight was over. “There’s nowhere to appeal.”
…While one angry delegate was speaking to the media about what just transpired, another Trump-backing delegate interrupted.
“Get over it!” she yelled.
Another delegate screamed “Go home!” at another anti-Trump delegate conducting interviews on the convention floor.
Delegates furious over the roll call vote insisted they were not giving up their efforts, but at the same time did not exactly know what their next move would be.
“Stay tuned. There’s a Plan B,” said Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate who co-founded the “Free the Delegates” movement. “We’re going to go back, we’re going to strategize…what they chose was to play hardball to make sure there wasn’t dissent, and now they’re going to get it.”
Reince Priebus and the GOP Establishment is now completely committed to the candidate which vilified them throughout the primaries. It’s Donald Trump’s party now.
Published in General
Eye roll! Yes let’s run behind the civility wall. You made it personal not me.
Is your last name Trump?
Gentlemen, desist.
Brian, I feel absolutely certain that some of Mitt Romney and John McCain’s supporters were white supremacists and members of the Klan. You don’t think they were voting for Obama, do you?
I don’t remember people getting all munged up about it then.
What I find interesting in this conversation (and others) is the lack of people asserting that Trump is indeed fit for office. It’s “Well, Hillary is unfit too” or “It’s sour grapes” or “You just want Hillary to win.”
Trump is more fit for office than Hillary. Those are your choices. That’s my pick.
Trump is fit for office. Deal with it.
With the wacky alerts, I didn’t see this until after my next two comments. I’m done.
Based on what?
Agree that they just wanted to stand and be counted, and they ought to have been granted the opportunity.
On the other hand, if the need to play hardball to squelch dissenting voices is a sign of weakness, it’s a weakness that’s been endemic to the GOP for a while. I recall Ron Paul delegates getting squelched in 2012 for much less and with much less possible threat to the presumptive nominee.
John Barrasso is not from MT, he is from Wyoming.
Bold type doesn’t add to your stale arguments, Fred. Is it maybe time to stack the firearms of the circular firing squad? Hillary must have goat pictures, to explain the longevity of the anti-Trumpers.
I have come to the conclusion that none of the candidates are fit for office, including Gary Johnson. Two words: Dumpster Fire.
SMOD 2016!
What happened to Lee and Cuccinelli is the definition of “hardball politics” and is hardly conducive to Party unity.
@brianwatt I find it hard to believe that Trump (and Manafort) are capable of this. I think this will hurt Trump in states that turn out to be close.
@brentb67 The interview I saw with Mike Lee said the closed primary issue was about the 2020 Primaries. The RNC favors open primaries, many delegates do not according to Senator Lee.
No goats are necessary. The reason for the movement becomes blatently obvious every time Trump opens his mouth.
What Lee and Cuccinelli were trying to pull was hardly conducive to Party unity, either. Seriously, change the rules so the delegates can ignore the primary results and pull off a coup with establishment ringer delegates slipped in to the delegations during state party conventions. Establishment hacks with no loyalty to the candidate their states voted for them to support. Boy, that would surely bring the party together, wouldn’t it?
If they’d managed to actually pull the coup off, I’d have been voting straight party Democrat in November. You don’t screw voters that way and expect them to ever vote for you again.
I used to like Cuccinelli before he involved himself in this crap.
@CareyJ Trump has enough delegate votes to be nominated. The Never-Trumps never had a candidate to substitute for Donald Trump. A roll call vote would have been an embarrassment at worst–it wouldn’t have changed anything. Cuccinelli is trying to get Ted Cruz nominated in 2020. The rules approved Monday cover the 2020 Primaries as well as the Convention.
Go figure. It’s as if the process is… rigged, to coin a phrase.
If the rule change and immaculate voice vote didn’t bother you in 2012, don’t complain in 2016.
I am going to enjoy a frosty cold beer this evening, sit out back on the wood deck I built. That’s my platform.
#Winning
35 years old, born in America. Yeah, that’s most of it. Which criteria would you have separate Americans from their votes?
I thought the 2012 rules change to keep Ron Paul from being nominated was petty and another example of hardball politics.
This is because you are harping on a goofy point. This is more of the popular non-argument “Well, I have not seen proof of X” when X is The One True Scotsman.
The RNC is a private organization and can do whatever it wants. This has been made clear. Verily, let the good times roll.
Noah Rothman in Commentary discussed the vote on the Rules: The Foolishness of the RNC. John Podhoretz also commented: The Goons at the RNC. The Weekly Standard also had a good article: Mike Lee Fights the RNC Machine.
Go Clinton!
Meeting the basic minimum requirements and fit for office aren’t the same thing
There are more important things than party unity.
You said it, brother!