http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/283988-rnc-official-trying-to-block-trump-nomination-sillyJune 17, 2016, 07:12 pm
RNC official: Trying to block Trump nomination ‘silly’
By Mark Hensch
A top Republican National Committee (RNC) official says there is no credible coup forming against Donald Trump at the convention.
“Donald Trump bested 16 highly qualified candidates and received more primary votes than any candidate in Republican Party history,” RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer said in a statement Friday.
“All of the discussion about the RNC rules Committee acting to undermine the presumptive nominee is silly,” added Spicer, also the RNC’s chief strategist.
"There is no organized effort, strategy or leader of this so-called movement. It is nothing more than a media creation and a series of tweets.”
The Trump campaign's RNC liaison also discounted the talk of a convention upset on Twitter.
Ed Brookover @EdBrookover
These 'Stop Trump' convention stories are best pieces of predictive journalism since the post WI stories about Trump will never reach 1237
7:48 PM - 17 Jun 2016
Reports emerged earlier Friday at least 30 delegates are mounting a longshot attempt at denying Trump the GOP presidential nomination.
The delegates allegedly hope they can alter party rules and stop Trump from becoming their party’s standard-bearer at next month’s Republican National Convention.
Party rules state the majority of Trump’s delegates are bound to vote for him on the convention floor in Cleveland. Any successful coup would require liberating delegates from their commitments in direct violation of current guidelines.
“This literally is an ‘Anybody but Trump’ movement,” Colorado Republican delegate Kendal Unruh, the campaign’s leader, told The Washington Post Friday.
“Nobody has any idea who is going to step in and be the nominee, but we’re not worried about that. We’re just doing that job to make sure that he’s not the face of our party.”
Discontent delegates essentially have two avenues for keeping Trump from clinching the Republican mantle.
One is voting to change the rule so delegates are unbound altogether, and another involves inserting a “conscience clause” in the present rules.
The latter change would let delegates break their pledges based on personal conscience. Neither strategy has gained a critical mass from potential participants.
Trump’s blunt rhetoric and political inexperience has establishment Republicans fearing he may help Hillary Clinton win the White House.
Clinton leads Trump by nearly 6 points nationwide, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.
