Will the GOP Allow Trump to be Nominated?

[Free Bird]

They clearly don't want him. Of course, it would be suicide if he has enough delegates and they refuse to give it to him.

[JonathanSwift]

They clearly don't want him. Of course, it would be suicide if he has enough delegates and they refuse to give it to him, but would they allow him to even advance to the primaries?

I don't know how they would prevent him from doing so, unless you're suggesting that they take a page from the Clinton playbook and give him the Vince Foster treatment?

[Free Bird]

They clearly don't want him. Of course, it would be suicide if he has enough delegates and they refuse to give it to him, but would they allow him to even advance to the primaries?

I don't know how they would prevent him from doing so, unless you're suggesting that they take a page from the Clinton playbook and give him the Vince Foster treatment?

Good point. Got rid of that part

[RFayette]

They would allow him if he won the primaries, but they'd likely let him lose the general a la Goldwater '64.

[rbt48]

At some point, party leaders could pull together key contenders and make deals to get selected competitors to drop out and perhaps even endorse a non-Trump alternative.  The idea would be to keep Trump from winning primaries with pluralities.  Of course, the strategy could backfire.  If The Donald has a majority of delegates, he'll be the nominee.  Then, it would be 1964 all over again, as already noted in this thread.

Interesting reading:  http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/donald-trump-wont-win-a-war-against-fox-news/

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No

[Skye]

They certainly will try to stop him. Trump=Clinton in da House.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

If Trump has a legitimate claim to winning the nomination and it's obvious that the GOP is pulling out all the stops to derail his candidacy, and he loses, I think Trump would be apt to mount a third party bid just to get back at the Republican establishment. They've got to be very careful...

[pho]

If Trump has the delegates going into the convention, the GOP will pick suicide and screw him. Should make for great TV.

[Maxwell]

Let's put the Trump surge into context - he began rising in mid July, and it's still only mid August (less than a month). Looking at RCP averages - Perry rose for a month and a half to two months only to fall back to earth. Herman Cain rose in October only to fall in December. Trump is still well within the range of falling down to earth.

I'd rather have Jeb Bush than Donald Trump, and I think Jeb would be a total disaster for this country.

[Fuzzy Bear]

If Trump is in the game long enough to actually be leading in delegates in May of next year, he will probably end up with having received more primary votes than any other Republican.  Which is not to say he can't be stopped at the convention, and he would be.  I'm sure that Trump will not be able to get 50% of the delegates in caucuses or primaries, and it will be a Code Red to stop Trump.  The GOP will coalesce around a candidate at the last minute and Trump will be stopped.  That's the nomination endgame if Trump is in the game deep into May.

The problem for the GOP as a whole is that Trump is going to make the party screw him over in full view of America.  First, they'll screw him by blocking his nomination.  Second, they'll do it so late in the game as to ensure that he couldn't be on the ballot in all 50 states and DC, which will always weaken the viability of an Independent candidacy.

If Trump really had a majority of the primary votes, he could launch all sorts of legal battles to ensure his nomination.  He'd lose in the end, but the legal actions would all be news, all making the GOP looking as if they're stifling the will of the people.  If he forced the convention to nominate him, individual states could go the Dixicrat/Harry Byrd 1960 route and name unpledged electors or electors pledged to another Republican, but there could be legal action on that account, and that's an area where Trump might prevail legally.  There are so, so many ways for the GOP to stymie Trump, but there are so, so many ways for the GOP to make it ugly.

What's the closest thing I've ever seen to this?  Probably when two LaRouche supporters won nominations for statewide office as Democrats in 1986; this move caused Adlai Stevenson III to run as the Solidarity Party candidate.   Even that would be ugly; Stevenson lost an election he was poised to win.

[Simfan34]

They clearly don't want him. Of course, it would be suicide if he has enough delegates and they refuse to give it to him, but would they allow him to even advance to the primaries?

I don't know how they would prevent him from doing so, unless you're suggesting that they take a page from the Clinton playbook and give him the Vince Foster treatment?

I seriously would not rule this out.

[Fuzzy Bear]

They clearly don't want him. Of course, it would be suicide if he has enough delegates and they refuse to give it to him, but would they allow him to even advance to the primaries?

I don't know how they would prevent him from doing so, unless you're suggesting that they take a page from the Clinton playbook and give him the Vince Foster treatment?

I seriously would not rule this out.

Well the GOP has a candidate whose father is former director of the CIA.  If he could secretly fly to Paris to delay the release of the Iranian hostages long enough for Reagan to win the election, undoing Donald Trump ought not to tax him too much.

[Likely Voter]

If Trump won any early state (like Gingrich did back in 2012) the establishment would have the same reaction but even stronger. You would see endorsements flock to the establishment frontrunner at the time, massive spending by outside money on anti-Trump TV ads, Fox would go after him, and even the likes of Drudge would go after him. There would also be behind the scenes moves to push out any establishment friendly candidates who didnt score in the top 3 in any early states.

But would all that work?  One big question is, would Trump spend $100M+ of his own money to fight back?

One thing for sure, it would be epic to watch.

[Mister Mets]

If Trump can get 50 percent of delegates, he'll be nominated. A lot of things need to happen first, and the establishment will be there to kneecap him at each stage.