Un-nominating Donald J. Trump

June 8, 2016

This comment below is on from this article in The National Review, 

"Not a single delegate is bound to vote for Trump"

It presents the legal principles, including case precedent, that each delegate has complete freedom of action in choosing a Presidential nominee of the organization, the political party.  (BTW, this goes for the Democrats also)  This is in support of the editorial position, that the nomination of Trump will be a disaster for the conservative movement.

I had just subscribed to this on-line version of the magazine, which was the first and most important of the conservative movement in the 1950s, started by William F. Buckley.  His good friend Ronald Reagan and he would be rolling in their graves if they knew the magazine was challenging the party's nominee -- but then again, maybe they would be proud!  

Here's my comment:


Trump won the primary victories through fraud. So even if in the absence of the legal right of discretion described herein, there is a moral obligation NOT to cast a convention vote based on citizens being misled.

His most powerful claim was that he was going to self fund his campaign, never stating that this was only for the primary elections, but rather implying it was for the entire campaign for the President of the United States. He then castigated every other candidate as having their hands out, which means they, unlike him, would not be free to tackle all of the powerful special interests that contribute to them.  

He made this same point dozens of times, often as accusations to demean every one of his competing candidates. This set him apart and won him the nomination. He even presented his self-funding as being a way to end the scourge of independent PACs,  publicly disavowing his own.  I would argue that this fraudulent offer, a classic example of non-performance of a contractual obligation, not only invalidates his nomination but the totality of the 2016 Republican primaries. 

But even worse than dropping Trump, would be to replace him with Ted Cruz.  This man has the unique status of being viscerally hated by both liberals and elected conservatives.  If anything he would be more of a disaster for the current tea party dominated Republican party.  Christian Dominionists, such as he, represent a small segment of the party and even smaller one of of all voters.  It is close to being an analogue of radical Islam, that can motivate a very few beyond concern for real world consequences.

If Trump were dumped, not only as a Candidate but repudiated for his fraudulent commitment to self-fund, there could be one of the few moderate Republicans candidates who were collateral damage from his misrepresentations to carry the banner. To win the general election, the nominee must be a moderate like Lindsey Graham or John Kasich - (I prefer Graham).  This could not only save the election, but perhaps transform, and thus preserve the Republican party.

AlRodbell.com