http://www.nationalreview.com/node/437063/print Dump Trump Can Cause Chaos in Cleveland, but What Then?
Trump’s foes will probably get a hearing on the convention floor. But without an organization or a candidate to replace him, they’re unlikely to achieve their goal.
By Eliana Johnson — June 24, 2016
Twenty-eight. That’s how many — or more accurately, how few — delegates it would take to throw the Republican National Convention into at least temporary chaos next month.
Murmurs of an organic, delegate-led move to snatch the nomination from Donald Trump are growing. And though the odds of success remain slim, the chance that the 2,400-plus delegates assembled at the convention in Cleveland will vote on a rule that frees them from their obligation to vote for a particular candidate on the first ballot — thereby allowing them to nominate an alternative to Trump — is not. That said, a lack of organization and the absence of an alternative to Trump are likely to stymie the effort.
“Four weeks ago it was strictly Timothy Leary land: no basis in reality,” says one RNC delegate, referring to the psychologist and advocate of psychedelic-drug use. “Two weeks ago, some folks started thinking about it late at night, and today, I think more folks are entertaining the possibility. If it’s a hundred-yard dash, it’s moved from a few inches to maybe a few yards.”
Any effort to wrest the nomination from Trump at the last minute would have to start with the RNC’s 112-member Rules Committee, which will convene in Cleveland just days before the convention kicks off on July 18. What has been mostly overlooked is that RNC rules require the support of just a quarter of Rules Committee members — 28 of them — to issue what’s known as a “minority report,” which would throw the matter of unbinding delegates to the convention floor for an up-or-down vote. That in and of itself would cause a stir on the first day of the convention.
more
