If this petition were actually successful, here is what it would accomplish:
1) Trump supporters, both "believers" and "realists", would likely abandon the party in droves.
2) GOP congressional candidates would get crushed, with Trump voters likely voting for their opponents out of anger
3) the GOP nominee would get crushed by Hillary.
4) Permanent alienation/split in the party.
This is the wet dream of the Democrat Party. If you don't like Trump, don't vote for him -- I probably won't either. If you really, truly hate him that much, vote for Hillary. But having the party as an organization do this would do incalculable damage to the party's reputation among many voters.
He's earned the nomination -- support him or not. But trying to convince delegates to change the rules at the 11th hour purely to deny him the nomination is, well, obscene. I'm a lifelong Republican who can't stand Trump either, but I'd permanently abandon the party at all levels if it did this. It would have earned as swift a death as possible.
I fully understand your concerns, but I would first of all point out that all of the bad things that you associate with the petition, if enacted, would almost certainly happen if Trump is
not blocked by the Rules Committee. (Re-read the final paragraph of the petition. The petitioners are dead serious.) I frankly believe we are way beyond salvaging the Republican Party. I smell the odor from the toaster already.
As to Trump earning the nomination, I would respond that Trump has been "earning" it by over-the-top lying and slander and vulgarity and thuggish threats--and all the while avoiding substantive policy debates. I agree with the petitioners that the only thing that Trump has earned is political excommunication. By his divisiveness and dishonesty and other unseemly behavior, he has revealed himself to be a political heretic.
BTW, I believe it is within the
Rules of the Party for
the Rules Committee to simply instruct delegates to vote their consciences. If that happens, Trump is toast, IMO. (A
lot of Trump delegates are asking to be released from their State-imposed pledges, based on what they now know about Trump and about his prospects for beating Hillary.)
***
As a side note on the 'excommunication" idea, I would point out that spiritual excommunication proceedings in local churches sometimes do destroy local churches (especially churches that waited too long to act decisively against ungodly members.) The churches that split and fail did not deserve to survive anyway. On the other hand, churches that don't go forward with the disciplinary sanctions
definitely don't
deserve to survive--even if they do survive! (There are lot of churches that keep their doors open even after they have become completely worthless.)
