The other rule that was adopted allowed the Republican National Committee to convene as a body between conventions and change rules.
Advertisement
The incident unfolded following a chaotic first day at the party’s convention at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena.
Nearly none of the Republicans in town for their national convention came anywhere the demonstrators and their message of inclusion.
A string of senior Republicans, anxious about Trump’s temperament and policies, were already avoiding the convention.
Two presidents and two former GOP presidential nominees are among those who will not attend the GOP convention in Cleveland.
Under current party rules, Trump’s nomination is essentially secured since he’s accumulated more than the 1,237 delegates required to win. Trump’s wife, Melania, will also speak, possibly joined by her husband on stage.
The incident unfolded following a chaotic first day at the party’s convention in OH and just hours before his wife Melania was due to make a speech on Monday night. “They do not want Trump to be embarrassed and they want to ramrod him through as the nominee”.
Hundreds of socially conservative delegates opposed to nominating Trump bellowed in outrage after the convention’s presiding officer, Arkansas GOP Rep. Steve Womack, abruptly put the rules to a vote and declared them approved by voice, not an individual tally of each state’s delegation. Delegates erupted in competing chants in a televised dispute Republican leaders had hoped to avoid. “I just texted them right now. This is surreal”, said Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who had helped lead the efforts to force a state-by-state roll call vote on the rules.
Kasich’s snub may be the most damaging of all as OH is a critical swing state but especially so for Republicans – making it virtually crucial for Trump.
“Hillary Clinton can not be trusted”.
“What that means is you got to stand down”, Lee said.
The specter of unrest and potential violence hangs over the convention as well, with the volatile mix of daily demonstrations planned by groups both for and against Trump. On the eve of the opening, three police officers were killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the city where a black man was killed by police two weeks ago.
Republican National Committee chairperson Reince Priebus welcomed delegates with a brief acknowledgement of the “troubling times” swirling outside.
Manafort said Kasich’s chief campaign adviser John Weaver believes it would be beneficial to any future Kasich Presidential bid not to endorse Trump.
Clinton, during remarks Monday at the NAACP’s annual convention, said there was no justification for directing violence at law enforcement.
“I will be there”, Trump said on Fox News.
Only Utah, Wyoming and Washington, D.C., gave Trump a smaller percentage in their presidential preference votes.
“I’m not happy about that, but again, we’re not voting for Hillary Clinton”.
Also taking the stage were actor Scott Baio and Willie Robertson, star of Duck Dynasty, who took the stage with an American flag bandanna wrapped around his head.
It worked. Trump roared to the top of the Republican polls and stayed there.
The line-up of speakers and no-shows for the four-night convention was a visual representation of Trump’s struggles to unify Republicans. “United States of America!” and “We want Trump”.
Donald Trump’s campaign team has been involved in a crash on the way to a NY airport, according to reports.
Manafort, in remarks to reporters at a Bloomberg breakfast, called Kasich “petulant” and said the governor was “embarrassing” his party in his home state.
Advertisement
“There was a tremendous amount of frustration that the rules kind of got shoved down everybody’s throats”, said Saul Anuzis, a Texas U.S. Sen.
