"GOP mulls convention challenge to Trump" LATEST: unbinding voted down in cmte

[Landslide Lyndon]

http://bigstory.ap.org/ffa8885e83b8414a8c3d32c4389d1ba6

A Republican senator says Donald Trump's criticism of a U.S.-born federal judge of Mexican heritage could fuel a convention challenge of the presumptive GOP nominee.

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake said the Republicans cannot win in November with Trump as the party's standard-bearer.

"Let's face it: meet the old Trump, just like the new Trump," Flake, who has long opposed the billionaire's candidacy, told reporters. "We've got what we've got. That's not somebody who can win the White House."

"Where there's no talk of a convention challenge or anything else, this might spur it," Flake said of Trump's comments on Judge Gonzalo Curiel.

[This account no longer in use.]

It's Jeff Flake. The only way I could see this less likely to be true is if Ben Sasse said it.

[sparkey]

Flake is easily one of the most likely current major officeholders to endorse Johnson/Weld.

Come over to this side, Jeff! The water's great! And not filled with authoritarian nationalist garbage.

[Virginiá]

Yeah, as if overturning the will of GOP voters will allow them to win. First off, their voters would practically revolt - The final proof that the establishment is only in this for themselves and screws them every chance they get. They will see this as the establishment taking their chance at "winning" and flushing it because it may hurt their corrupt agenda.

Second, whoever they nominate will not only suffer from a severely split party and widespread resentment, but they start off with a significant disadvantage in cash and field infrastructure. They basically start out with nothing, except maybe a Super PAC filled with tens of millions of dollars from desperate billionaires. That won't be as helpful as one would like to think, seeing as the candidate would be just starting out with little time to catch up.

Terrible idea. If they wanted an alternative, they should have worked something out much earlier.

[Green Line]

Yeah, as if overturning the will of GOP voters will allow them to win. First off, their voters would practically revolt - The final proof that the establishment is only in this for themselves and screws them every chance they get. They will see this as the establishment taking their chance at "winning" and flushing it because it may hurt their corrupt agenda.

Second, whoever they nominate will not only suffer from a severely split party and widespread resentment, but they start off with a significant disadvantage in cash and field infrastructure. They basically start out with nothing, except maybe a Super PAC filled with tens of millions of dollars from desperate billionaires. That won't be as helpful as one would like to think, seeing as the candidate would be just starting out with little time to catch up.

Terrible idea. If they wanted an alternative, they should have worked something out much earlier.

Trump never won the majority of Republican primary voters, not even close.  The voters won't revolt (at least most of them wont), they're only going along with Trump now because he's the presumptive nominee.

[SillyAmerican]

Yeah, as if overturning the will of GOP voters will allow them to win. First off, their voters would practically revolt - The final proof that the establishment is only in this for themselves and screws them every chance they get. They will see this as the establishment taking their chance at "winning" and flushing it because it may hurt their corrupt agenda.

Second, whoever they nominate will not only suffer from a severely split party and widespread resentment, but they start off with a significant disadvantage in cash and field infrastructure. They basically start out with nothing, except maybe a Super PAC filled with tens of millions of dollars from desperate billionaires. That won't be as helpful as one would like to think, seeing as the candidate would be just starting out with little time to catch up.

Terrible idea. If they wanted an alternative, they should have worked something out much earlier.

Yeah, I guess it's about time we get past the nominations, and get to viewing the ideas/policies/vision of Trump and Clinton. The idea that either major party will select a reasonable candidate? That ship has sailed...

[Virginiá]

Trump never won the majority of Republican primary voters, not even close.  The voters won't revolt (at least most of them wont), they're only going along with Trump now because he's the presumptive nominee.

It doesn't even take a majority, though. Even say, a 10% reduction in support due to such a mess would doom Republicans in November - Quite substantially at that. There are enough true Trump supporters to make such a situation likely, imo. Republicans are already stretched thin at the national level - They can't afford such defections. Perhaps if this was the 80s, but it isn't.

However this is just a hypothetical, but I think it would be wrong to say there would be no significant negative effects if the GOP stole his nomination.

[Green Line]

Trump never won the majority of Republican primary voters, not even close.  The voters won't revolt (at least most of them wont), they're only going along with Trump now because he's the presumptive nominee.

It doesn't even take a majority, though. Even say, a 10% reduction in support due to such a mess would doom Republicans in November - Quite substantially at that. There are enough true Trump supporters to make such a situation likely, imo.

However this is just a hypothetical, but I think it would be wrong to say there would be no significant negative effects if the GOP stole his nomination.

A lot of the Trumpets would turn out regardless due to their dislike of Hillary, and I'm willing to bet that slotting in a competent Republican would more than make up the lost Republicans by dominating with independents.  Look how badly Hillary does with them against Trump.

[uti2]

Yeah, as if overturning the will of GOP voters will allow them to win. First off, their voters would practically revolt - The final proof that the establishment is only in this for themselves and screws them every chance they get. They will see this as the establishment taking their chance at "winning" and flushing it because it may hurt their corrupt agenda.

Second, whoever they nominate will not only suffer from a severely split party and widespread resentment, but they start off with a significant disadvantage in cash and field infrastructure. They basically start out with nothing, except maybe a Super PAC filled with tens of millions of dollars from desperate billionaires. That won't be as helpful as one would like to think, seeing as the candidate would be just starting out with little time to catch up.

Terrible idea. If they wanted an alternative, they should have worked something out much earlier.

Trump never won the majority of Republican primary voters, not even close.  The voters won't revolt (at least most of them wont), they're only going along with Trump now because he's the presumptive nominee.

Trump won with ~40% of the vote, which is the same percentage that Goldwater, Nixon, Mccain and Romney had.

[Virginiá]

A lot of the Trumpets would turn out regardless due to their dislike of Hillary, and I'm willing to bet that slotting in a competent Republican would more than make up the lost Republicans by dominating with independents.  Look how badly Hillary does against them against Trump.

Well, neither one of us truly knows how they will react to such a situation, so all we have our are theories. However, you can't really go off of current polls or their current actions to try and figure out how such a situation would turn out. Those polls reflect the race as it is now, and not what it would be after such a disaster. That's all I really have to say about that.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

https://politicalwire.com/2016/06/07/flake-suggests-convention-challenge-to-trump/

Ouch.

[HillOfANight]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-2-3-weeks-fix-000000452.html

Corker is giving Trump 2-3 weeks.

[Green Line]

[Landslide Lyndon]

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=238345.0

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

It wouldn't end well for the GOP. Even if they just concede the presidential race, such a chaos, culminating with trouncing the presumptive nominee, would hurt them in downballot races.

[Green Line]

It wouldn't end well for the GOP. Even if they just concede the presidential race, such a chaos, culminating with trouncing the presumptive nominee, would hurt them in downballot races.

Sometimes you have to put the country before party.  I'm ok with conceding the Presidential election in this circumstance.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

It wouldn't end well for the GOP. Even if they just concede the presidential race, such a chaos, culminating with trouncing the presumptive nominee, would hurt them in downballot races.

Sometimes you have to put the country before party.  I'm ok with conceding the Presidential election in this circumstance.

Hopefully President Clinton's first action is banning this despicable party in that case. Country before party after all.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Yeah, as if overturning the will of GOP voters will allow them to win. First off, their voters would practically revolt - The final proof that the establishment is only in this for themselves and screws them every chance they get. They will see this as the establishment taking their chance at "winning" and flushing it because it may hurt their corrupt agenda.

Second, whoever they nominate will not only suffer from a severely split party and widespread resentment, but they start off with a significant disadvantage in cash and field infrastructure. They basically start out with nothing, except maybe a Super PAC filled with tens of millions of dollars from desperate billionaires. That won't be as helpful as one would like to think, seeing as the candidate would be just starting out with little time to catch up.

Terrible idea. If they wanted an alternative, they should have worked something out much earlier.

It's quite telling that many Republicans did not know what's really happening until Trump actually became the presumptive nominee.

Trouncing Trump at the convention would be a disaster for them. Even if they just nominate a presidential sacrificial lamb, it would cost the party dearly in downballot races.

[MisSkeptic]

It wouldn't end well for the GOP. Even if they just concede the presidential race, such a chaos, culminating with trouncing the presumptive nominee, would hurt them in downballot races.

It wouldn't surprise me this will come back and hurt the GOP in the coming years. Donald Trump has poisoned the wall and the GOP are going to have to drink the water or get off the pot.

[Green Line]

It wouldn't end well for the GOP. Even if they just concede the presidential race, such a chaos, culminating with trouncing the presumptive nominee, would hurt them in downballot races.

Sometimes you have to put the country before party.  I'm ok with conceding the Presidential election in this circumstance.

Hopefully President Clinton's first action is banning this despicable party in that case. Country before party after all.

Conceding 1 election vs conceding the next 20 years due to how badly Trump will damage our brand.

[Ljube]

It wouldn't end well for the GOP. Even if they just concede the presidential race, such a chaos, culminating with trouncing the presumptive nominee, would hurt them in downballot races.

Sometimes you have to put the country before party.  I'm ok with conceding the Presidential election in this circumstance.

Hopefully President Clinton's first action is banning this despicable party in that case. Country before party after all.

Conceding 1 election vs conceding the next 20 years due to how badly Trump will damage our brand.

What brand? The Republican brand is already irreparably damaged and incapable of winning the presidential election ever again.

Trump is the last hope.

[SATW]

It wouldn't end well for the GOP. Even if they just concede the presidential race, such a chaos, culminating with trouncing the presumptive nominee, would hurt them in downballot races.

Sometimes you have to put the country before party.  I'm ok with conceding the Presidential election in this circumstance.

Hopefully President Clinton's first action is banning this despicable party in that case. Country before party after all.

Conceding 1 election vs conceding the next 20 years due to how badly Trump will damage our brand.

What brand? The Republican brand is already irreparably damaged and incapable of winning the presidential election ever again.

Trump is the last hope.

Your shilling is truly hilarious (and sad).

[Xing]

Maybe the Republican convention will end up being a bit interesting after all... I'm not saying that Trump won't be crowned the nominee, but it might not go as smoothly as he's hoping it will.

[jollyschwa]

It wouldn't end well for the GOP. Even if they just concede the presidential race, such a chaos, culminating with trouncing the presumptive nominee, would hurt them in downballot races.

Sometimes you have to put the country before party.  I'm ok with conceding the Presidential election in this circumstance.

Hopefully President Clinton's first action is banning this despicable party in that case. Country before party after all.

Conceding 1 election vs conceding the next 20 years due to how badly Trump will damage our brand.

What brand? The Republican brand is already irreparably damaged and incapable of winning the presidential election ever again.

Trump is the last hope.

Trump is the death rattle.  Thankfully.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Wulfric, there is a difference between "supports" and "suggests."  Flake did the latter.  He is saying this is a real possibility, not necessarily that he supports it, though it's very possible he does.