With the reality of Islamic terrorism having hit the homeland once again, it’s no surprise to see Republican frontrunner Donald Trump extending his lead. The latest CNN/ORC poll has Trump leading the pack with 36% support nationally, a full 20 points ahead of Senator Ted Cruz, who comes in second place. Trump doesn’t have a long history of foreign policy experience, but he’s been among the strongest candidates when it comes to addressing the threat of the Islamic State. At a time like this – more than ever – voters want to see strength back in the White House.
And yet, the Republican establishment is more determined than ever to see the real estate mogul become yesterday’s news. Increasingly, there are dark whispers that the Republican National Committee could resort to some unseemly tactics to get what they want. In an interview with CNN this week, former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt said this:
In order to get the nomination, you have to get the majority of the votes at the convention. The presidential election is not going to be won in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina; it has to be won by a composite of all 50 states.
Or, depending on how far the RNC wants to go, they could feasibly choose to ignore the votes altogether.
“Everybody is depending on these primary results, except it is all built on a house of cards, a fabricated reality,” Curly Haugland, a North Dakota RNC member, told Alternet in September. “Everybody wants to have a presumptive nominee. There’s hundreds of millions of dollars at stake to buy votes for primary elections. The votes they are buying are worthless. Nobody wants to hear that story.”
At the time, Haugland’s warnings sounded like the usual ramblings of the fringe. But now, with Trump still on top and the once-presumptive nominee – Jeb Bush – sinking to an abysmal 3% in the polls, it’s clear that Republicans can no longer count on Ye Olde Trump Implosion. And unless they decide to bite the bullet and (the horror!) go with the guy the voters actually want, they may be willing to take some drastic steps come convention time.
Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail. Republican Party leaders may be afraid that Donald Trump will “ruin” their election; if they decide to forcibly take the primaries out of the voters’ hands, though, the GOP is finished. Done. Sayonara.
A better idea would be to stop fighting the will of the people. Stop trying to mold this election so that it fits your preconceived notions of who should get the nomination. Let these primaries play out as they will. And instead of telling conservatives what they SHOULD think, start listening to what they DO think.
Just a thought.
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