Oops: By Abandoning GOP Loyalty Pledge, Trump May Forfeit South Carolina Delegates

[Valin]

Townhall/Tip Sheet:

Guy Benson

Mar 31, 2016

 

(Snip)

 

The next day, Allahpundit outlined what a bafflingly insane move this was. As the frontrunner with the only possible path to clinching the nomination before Cleveland, it's very much in Trump's interest to insist upon absolute fealty to the presidential field's group promise. Plus, as the likeliest nominee, he's probably going to have to lean hard on a Republican unity message sooner or later. Yet there he was, casually flushing his pledge down the toilet, apparently in a fit of pique over...whatever his grudge of the day was. It's hard to keep track. AP framed Trump's impulsive decision as the latest nugget of evidence that Trump is still running a "winging it" campaign, based on his gut feelings and whims. Now it looks like the low-information emotionalism that guided this flippant decision could damage his chances of winning the nomination even more than initially thought. Time's Zeke Miller reports:

 

 

 

Donald Trump’s announcement that he no longer stands by a pledge to support the GOP has thrown his hold on South Carolina’s 50 delegates in doubt. The Palmetto State was one of several that required candidates to pledge their loyalty to the party’s eventual nominee in order to secure a slot on the primary ballot. Though Trump won all of the state’s delegates in the Feb. 20 primary, anti-Trump forces are plotting to contest their binding to Trump because of his threat on the pledge Tuesday...South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Matt Moore gave credence to the anti-Trump claims. “Breaking South Carolina’s presidential primary ballot pledge raises some unanswered legal questions that no one person can answer,” he told TIME. “However, a court or national convention Committee on Contests could resolve them. It could put delegates in jeopardy.” When Trump filed for the ballot in South Carolina he signed a pledge stating to “hereby affirm that I generally believe in and intend to support the nominees and platform of the Republican Party in the November 8, 2016 general election.” The challenge, which could only be filed once delegates are selected, would seek to allow them to be free-agents on the first ballot..."

 

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[Geee]

Delegates ready to flee Trump at contested convention

The reality of a contested convention has become more real than ever, with Donald Trump facing the risk of losing Wisconsin next week, meaning he’d have to win roughly 60 percent of the remaining delegates to win the Republican presidential nomination outright.

If Trump heads into the convention without the magic number of 1,237, already more than a hundred delegates are poised to break with him on a second ballot, according to interviews with dozens of delegates, delegate candidates, operatives and party leaders.

 

In one of starkest examples of Trump’s lack of support, out of the 168 Republican National Committee members — each of whom doubles as a convention delegate — only one publicly supports Trump, and she knows of only a handful of others who support him privately.

 

Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has been whipping Trump in the quiet, early race to elect his own loyalists to become delegates to the convention, meaning that the Texas senator could triumph through delegates who are freed to vote their own preferences on a second ballot, regardless of who won their state.

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/trumps-uphill-delegate-scramble-221443

[Valin]

Delegates ready to flee Trump at contested convention

 

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