In 2012, the Establishment had an agenda. They didn’t want Ron Paul and his “crazies” mucking up the Republican convention by trying to draw attention to themselves. They wanted to demonstrate unity by having all of the attention paid to the nominee, Mitt Romney. As a result, RNC Rule 40B was established. Now, the tables have turned and none of their guys has a chance at the nomination, so there has been talks of eliminating the suddenly outdated rule. This would be a betrayal to the base of the Republican party and would represent the reality that the Establishment wants control of the party more than they want a victory in November.
Rule 40B declares that “Each candidate for nomination for President of the United States and Vice President of the United States shall demonstrate the support of a majority of the delegates from each of eight (8) or more states, severally, prior to the presentation of the name of that candidate for nomination.”
In essence, if a candidate does not have a majority of delegates in at least eight states, they can’t even be on the ballot. This was a rule built for the sanctity of the party back in 2012 but now it’s a nuisance. Why? Because Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are the only candidates who will go into the convention with over eight states. The Establishment thinks that Trump will embarrass them and Cruz will change the fabric of the party. Neither option is acceptable, so they’re going to arbitrarily remove the rule a week before the convention.
This is not a joke even though it’s funny. It’s not fair even though it will be done in the name of fairness. It’s not something that voters should accept.
Personally, I’m a Cruz supporter so it’s easy for me to believe that changing the rule would be a tragedy. However, I’m not a fan of Trump’s, yet the notion the he could win the most or second most delegates and still lose the nomination to someone other than Cruz is obtuse. I’d rather see Trump, a man I do not trust, over a candidate chosen by the Establishment. It’s not that their choice would necessarily be bad. It’s that their choice was not determined by the will of the Republican voters of this nation and therefore it wouldn’t matter who they chose for the nomination – I’ll oppose. They could clone Ronald Reagan and Calvin Coolidge into a super-conservative hybrid and I would oppose him as a forced nominee.
It would be a nominee that wasn’t nominated by any Republican voters. That, my friends, is not a nominee. If the Republican party hands the nomination to anyone other than Trump or Cruz, the entire system is broken, the party is doomed, and the country will sink further into despair under Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.