Let's say it's June 2016 and after a long primary battle it looks like Donald Trump will in fact win either a majority or a strong plurality of delegates. Does the RNC have a plan in place to either try to deny Trump the nomination outright or minimize the damage to the party in this scenario? Does Reince Priebus have people working up a "doomsday plan" right now to respond to a Trump win?
Is there any way the RNC could wrestle the nomination away from Trump at the convention?
Would they try to force an unwanted running mate onto Trump's ticket?
Do any major establishment players back some kind of mainstream conservative third party ticket (knowing this will lose Republicans the election but possibly minimalize down-ballot damage)?
Would most sitting Senators and Governors bite their tongues and endorse Trump, or would many refuse to do so?
Could any state parties refuse to give Trump their ballot line?
Doomsday would be denying Trump the nomination.
In the end, that's what I think will happen, but it will be so ugly as to damage the GOP brand in a year where it has a chance of upgrading itself.
There are options. Individual state parties could name GOP electors not pledged to Trump, but that would probably be only an option in the South and Mountain West, where Trump would probably be strong. In the Northeast and Midwest, the GOP would be up against it a bit more; those who would be handicapped by Trump in the GOP would probably have to fall back on making statements like "Well, I'm voting the National Ticket, but I'm only campaigning for myself."
I can't emphasize enough how ugly it would be if Trump doesn't implode, but he's denied the nomination if he's the leading vote-getter amongst the GOP field. I don't know that the GOP could get Trump's supporters to vote for the GOP ticket under those circumstances, and some of them may well actually vote for Hillary to spite Trump's enemies within the GOP. I am sure that the GOP will do everything to try to stop Trump's nomination, but at a certain point, doing so is worse than living with Trump.
The RNC should do what it takes to deny Donald Trump the GOP nomination because Donald Trump is not a real Republican. If he gets 30% of the votes, that means 70% supported someone else.
Donald Trump is for direct talks with terrorists who fund our enemies. His response to 57 million murdered fetuses is to continue to fund an abortion provider, he has no respect for human life. He is for socialized medicine and rationing. He is for the government seizing private property. He is for economic stimulus. He is against free trade and therefore jobs that pay well. He wants to ban "assault" weapons as opposed to allowing state's to decide how best to combat crime. He wants to raise taxes and increase federal spending. My point: there is not a dime's worth of difference between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on issues other than illegal immigration. So the RNC is justified in standing for the majority of Republicans who want to give Americans a choice in this election.
I can't emphasize enough how great it would be to see this idiot with an ego implode, it would be beautiful. The RNC needs to ensure Trump loses.
