And there are a few other people who don’t want to speak for Trump at the Republican National Convention.
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Thursday’s votes will call into question whether the anti-Trump effort has enough support to get 28 signatures on the measure, which would ensure it gets a vote before the almost 2,500 delegates when the full convention convenes on Monday.
Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, celebrated the committee’s actions with a comment on Twitter.
The “conscience clause” amendment, put forth by Colorado delegate Kendal Unruh, would have freed delegates from the results of the primaries and caucuses so that they could revolt against Trump on the convention floor.
“If we don’t stick together as a party and stop her, then the only alternative is to get comfortable with the phrase, ‘President Hillary Clinton, ‘” Priebus said as the 168-member Republican National Committee – the party’s leadership – gathered for the first time in their convention city. Lee and his wife, also a rules delegate, walked out with Unruh, and the group remained silent. Whatever. The argument posited against unbinding the delegates-that Trump won the delegates, and it would be wrong to throw that away after the fact-was simply the fairer case.
The convention’s Rules Committee – convened exactly a week before Trump is expected to accept the party’s nomination – worked well into the evening Thursday as an air of distrust hovered over the 112-member panel. The protesters, however, are likely to do more harm to their cause if these protests become violent and the news coverage shifts to their behavior, rather than the controversies surrounding Trump’s nomination. Republican leaders are desperate to avoid a potentially messy and high-profile showdown on the convention floor after a primary season that has already pushed the party to the brink.
“It’s over folks. We need to get behind our candidate”, said Steve Scheffler, who also pushed additional language to clarify that delegates are bound.
The incessant campaign of the anti-Trump rebellion rankled some of the delegates committed to the NY businessman.
“All I’m asking is that you regard this as the sanctity of the vote that is reflected and the duty and the obligation of each delegate to cast the ballot according to their conscience”, Unruh said. It’s clear to me we have an obligation to honor that commitment.
The process for them to do so was to gain to the support of one quarter of the rules committee, but they fell far short of doing so.
In June, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said an entire night of the convention might be dedicated to famous athletes speaking on his behalf. That vote was immediately preceded by a recorded vote of 87 to 12 that made explicit delegates’ binding.
Committee members toiled late into the night Thursday to consider a raft of changes to the rules governing how the Republican Party operates and nominates its presidential candidate.
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While precinct workers and party activists can accept the donations as gifts, party leaders warn against taking money from corporations.
