Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, has been under heavy fire from some Republicans, for his non-stop criticism of Trump and his hope Trump can be ousted as the party’s nominee.
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Bill Kristol tells Newsmax TV he has no plans to quit the Republican Party as conservative columnist George Will has done to protest Donald Trump’s reign as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee – because a third-party spoiler still may emerge to sink the billionaire real-estate tycoon.
Pushed further on the question of Trump’s qualifications, McConnell said, “Look, I’ll leave that to the American people to decide”.
They are employing hard-nosed tactics, warning delegates that attempting to undermine Donald Trump’s claim to the nomination violates party rules, and threatening to deny speaking slots to Republicans they deem disloyal for not backing him. Adding to those hurdles, Priebus has put in trusted loyalists to run the convention rules committee while working with the Trump campaign and state parties to make sure the most important committees are not stacked with unpredictable delegates.
“It will be the platform of the Republican Party and I don’t expect it to differ that much from the platform we had four years ago”, he said. The Cleveland gathering begins in three weeks. A leader of the effort, Colorado convention delegate Regina Thomson, said around 2,000 people were on the call.
Their moves are meant to buttress Trump as he confronts a faction of Republicans who, emboldened by his recent missteps, say their efforts to stage a convention coup are gaining more support.
One participant in Sunday’s call was James Lamb, a fundraiser for the presidential campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. Humphrey called Trump “just about the worst candidate you could think of, for the country first and for the party second”.
Party officials are also working to thwart delegates who are encouraging a “conscience vote” based on the notion that Republican rules can not bind anyone to any candidate.
Peter Feaman, a party stalwart who will serve on the convention rules committee, stressed that the RNC will back the presumptive nominee no matter what.
Trump’s campaign also is working to minimize any rebellion by delegates at the convention against the candidate.
King said many in the party remain skeptical of Trump’s commitment to conservative ideals.
OH governor John Kasich has not asked for a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in his home state in July and has “zero expectations” of receiving one, the Guardian has learned.
“That’s why we set another Trump-sized goal”.
“We are fully now integrated with the Republican National Committee”, Manafort said. One activist, Steve Lonegan, who directed Cruz’s losing campaign in New Jersey, is now helping a political action committee that advocates letting delegates vote their consciences.
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McConnell and other Republicans said they got the first glimmers of reassurance this week when Trump fired former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in what Trump described as a change of direction from the GOP primaries to the general election.
