Just a day after I speculated heavily about Republican establishment efforts to rid themselves of their Donald Trump scourge, turns out Republicans are doing their own heavy speculation.
More than 20 [Republican leaders] convened Monday near the Capitol for a dinner held by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, and the prospect of Trump nearing next year’s nominating convention in Cleveland with a significant number of delegates dominated the discussion, according to five people familiar with the meeting.
Weighing in on that scenario as Priebus and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) listened, several longtime Republican power brokers argued that if the controversial billionaire storms through the primaries, the party’s establishment must lay the groundwork for a floor fight in which the GOP’s mainstream wing could coalesce around an alternative, the people said.
RNC Chair Reince Priebus maintains the RNC is bound by existing rules, though they could be changed at the convention itself. And if Trump doesn’t have a majority of the delegates, well then, those committee meetings would be a perfect place for establishment forces to rig the rules of the convention against him. Sure, it would piss off a major segment of the GOP electorate (witness Ben Carson today) , and yes, it would doom the GOP’s presidential hopes, but at least it would allow the rest of the GOP ticket to disassociate itself from Trump, salvaging down-ballot races.
