Members of the RNC are taking the first serious, overt actions to protect a Donald Trump nomination and prevent chaos at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
According to a proposal submitted to the RNC Convention Committee and the RNC Rules Committee by influential RNC member Solomon Yue, members of both committees might be looking to prevent rule changes adopted at this year’s convention from taking effect until 2020.
“The Rules adopted by the 2016 Convention, as amended under Rule 12, shall constitute the Rules of the Republican National Committee and the 2016 National Convention. Any amendments herein to these rules, as adopted by the 2016 National Convention, shall take effect at the adjournment of the 2016 National Convention and constitute the Rules for the Republican National Committee and the temporary Rules of the 2020 National Convention.”
That simple change could head off a number of anti-Trump efforts, by preventing other members of the Rules Committee, favorable to Senator Ted Cruz or another Trump alternative, from using the rules to unbind the delegates, or to allow delegates to vote their consciences instead of for their state’s winner.
This isn’t Yue’s first attempt to make a dramatic change. Several months ago, he proposed changing the convention from House of Representatives rules to the more traditional Roberts Rules of Order, making Rep. Paul Ryan less able to control the convention from the Speaker’s chair. That proposal didn’t make it very far. But if RNC officials are serious about heading off a #NeverTrump mutiny, his newest idea may be an easier way out.
Another anti-Trump effort, called “Free the Delegates,” claims to have an advance team on the ground in Cleveland, where they’ll build and deploy a strategy to “turn” delegates already committed to Trump through their state party. Free the Delegates has only 112 members, though, and is reportedly struggling to make inroads ahead of the convention. They’re counting on Trump’s sagging poll numbers to push more members to their camp.
But even if some Republican delegates aren’t thrilled with Trump, they seem to be less thrilled with the uprising. One delegate from New Mexico told the Washington Post, “The majority has spoken in favor of Mr. Trump…Therefore, my vote ‘must’ represent them and not me or my opinion.”
Free the Delegates would need at least 57 members of the Rules Committee to make any substantive changes and more than 1,200 delegates to complete their coup.
