Donald Trump is in a race against the clock to win enough Republican delegates to secure the Republican nomination, preventing an open or brokered convention. But while he’s giving an effort in New York and California, upcoming states where delegate counts are high, Trump is quietly pulling his team out of Colorado, leaving Ted Cruz to snap up Colorado’s 37 Republican delegates.
Colorado, unlike other states, elected not to have a primary vote or caucus and will instead elect delegates in a series of contests across the state this week, culminating in a statewide convention on Saturday. The “congressional assemblies” taking place Thursday and Friday, however, are the most important for Presidential candidates looking to woo Colorado Republicans. By Friday night, 21 of the state’s 37 delegates will already have been chosen.
While Trump had planned to campaign for Colorado’s delegates, after his loss in Wisconsin, the campaign pulled out of two major events. According to law enforcement sources speaking to RedState, Trump abruptly cancelled a planned rally in Colorado Springs on Thursday, and the Denver Post reports that the candidate will be a no-show at this weekend’s convention, even after talking with organizers.
Judging by his Twitter feed, Trump seemed to go into a depressive state following his Tuesday loss in Wisconsin, missing phone calls, ignoring POLITICO stories chronicling the impending breakdown of his entire operation. He even treated a heckler at his Wednesday night rally with respect.
But while he might be melancholy over the Cheeseheads, his motive for completely abandoning a chance at necessary delegates remains unclear. He needs to win more than 50% of the remaining delegates to lock in the nomination, and concentrating on New York, his home state, simply won’t accomplish that.
Since Cruz is ahead in Colorado, perhaps Trump wants to makes it seem like he didn’t care about winning there, or perhaps his team’s goal has shifted from securing the nomination to finding inroads elsewhere. According to one surprising interview with a Trump aide Wednesday, the campaign now says “it’s not about Trump getting to 1,237.”
