Establishment Trying to Disenfranchise South Carolina Primary Voters After Trump Romps
Donald Trump delivers his victory speech in Spartanburg, South Carolina on February 20, 2016. (Photo: Getty)
The South Carolina Republican Party is trying to use statements made by Donald J. Trump to deny him the state’s 50 delegates, disenfranchising primary voters. At a CNN town hall on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump was asked if he was keeping to his promise to support the eventual nominee, and now party elites are hoping to use his response against him.
“No, I don’t anymore,” he said in response. “I have been treated very unfairly.”
The state, which hasn’t yet selected its delegates for the Republican National Convention, requires candidates to make roughly the same pledge the candidates made to the Republican National Committee in order to be on the primary ballot. Now, after the delegates are selected, PPD has learned the state party will attempt to file a lawsuit attempting to release them from their binding status.
This will allow them to cast their votes for other candidates not named Donald Trump on the first ballot.
“Breaking South Carolina’s presidential primary ballot pledge raises some unanswered legal questions that no one person can answer,” South Carolina GOP Chairman Matt Moore told Time. “However, a court or national convention Committee on Contests could resolve them. It could put delegates in jeopardy.”
The plan, according to sources, was just one proposal in a multi-pronged plan outlined by Karl Rove, a longtime Bush and party operative. The plan aims to deny Mr. Trump the 1,237 delegates necessary to clinch the Republican nomination. Billionaires, Silicon Valley CEOs and members of the Republican Establishment were first briefed on it when they flew to a private island resort off the coast of Georgia in early March under the guise of the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) annual World Forum.
Sources tell PPD that the plan was cooked months ago almost immediately after Mr. Trump won the South Carolina Republican primary, forcing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to drop out of the race after coming in fourth. However, even though voters took a different position, Republican elites in South Carolina are still very much loyal to the Bush wing of the party.
Rove and Bush allies have been waiting until Mr. Trump responded in kind to the other candidates, all of whom, to include his closest rival Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have either alluded or outright admitted that they would no longer abide by their own pledge far before Mr. Trump’s statements.
Consequently, Sen. Cruz recently received the endorsement of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who dropped out of the race before voting even got underway. Gov. Bush also jumped on the Cruz train earlier this month, but he withheld his endorsement until after the Florida Republican Primary, which resulted in a big Trump win and the end of Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign.
The loss in The Palmetto State defeat was particularly stinging to Bush and Co., who have long-believed the state to be strongly supportive of the Establishment. The state allocates delegates proportionately based on voting results by congressional district. However, because Mr. Trump’s win was so dominant–he won all three regional breakdowns, to include the heavily evangelical upstate–he forced a winner-take-all.
South Carolina was pivotal to both Sens. Cruz and Rubio, as well. Rubio placed second with the full backing of the state’s governor, popular senator and congressman, while Cruz came in third. Sen. Cruz was hoping for a record-breaking evangelical turnout, which he got. Unfortunately, Mr. Trump won the demographic handily, as well as the highly-educated Horry County with nearly 50% of the vote.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump met with RNC Chair Reince Priebus on Thursday in his latest effort to unite the party. The meeting focused on the Republican National Convention in July, campaign and party finances, as well as the general election. In truth, Trump’s efforts to put members at ease and unite the party has been underway since the first Super Tuesday, though one might never know that from coverage.
Just had a very nice meeting with @Reince Priebus and the @GOP. Looking forward to bringing the Party
together — and it will happen!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2016
However, a faction in the Republican Establishment never had any intention of trying to work with the front-runner and likely never will, no matter how many votes or delegates he wins
“Being the Republican nominee doesn’t even entitle him to loyalty,” Mr. Rove said in February.
The dirty little secret in D.C. is that Mr. Rove, as well as many RNC members, would rather Democrat Hillary Clinton win in November than Donald Trump. They aren’t afraid of him losing, they’re afraid of him winning.
