Will there be a last-ditch effort to unseat Donald Trump at the convention?
Even though the Republican National Convention is officially underway, with presumptive party nominee Donald Trump all set to be coronated, there's a sliver of hope for the remaining #NeverTrump voters in Cleveland: Republicans looking to stage an anti-Trump coup have acquired enough signatures to force a ballot on convention rules, Politico reports.
The last hope for #NeverTrump holdouts lies in a technicality — that is, delegates haven't officially voted for Trump as the GOP nominee yet. The reason it's "presumptive" is because enough people in enough states voted for Trump in the Republican primary contest, theoretically binding enough delegates to mark their ballots for Trump at the convention and grant him the nomination.
Except, of course, if anti-Trump warriors can change the GOP rules. Last Thursday, the rules committee of the Republican National Committee rejected a proposal to do just that; Colorado delegate Kendal Unruh, an outspoken #NeverTrump supporter, led the charge to enable "votes of conscience" that would free Trump-bound delegates from voting for the mogul if it went against their personal morals. And despite a ruling last week by a federal judge that freed Trump-bound delegates in Virginia to vote with their consciences, such delegates are still bound by party rules.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But if this new initiative — forced to the floor after anti-Trump Republicans gathered a sufficient number of signatures to necessitate a vote on convention rules — succeeds, the stipulation that pledged delegates vote according to their state's election results could be abandoned in favor of a "conscience" vote, which many interpret as freeing Trump-bound delegates from actually voting for him. And while it's "highly unlikely" the #NeverTrump faction actually wins the rules vote, Politico notes, the rebel delegates "hope to… prove what they've long claimed: that a significant section of the party still doesn't support the presumptive nominee."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
-
Grok in the crosshairs as EU launches deepfake porn probeIN THE SPOTLIGHT The European Union has officially begun investigating Elon Musk’s proprietary AI, as regulators zero in on Grok’s porn problem and its impact continent-wide
-
‘But being a “hot” country does not make you a good country’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Why have homicide rates reportedly plummeted in the last year?Today’s Big Question There could be more to the story than politics
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
CBS pulls ‘60 Minutes’ report on Trump deporteesSpeed Read An investigation into the deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious prison was scrapped
-
Trump administration posts sliver of Epstein filesSpeed Read Many of the Justice Department documents were heavily redacted, though new photos of both Donald Trump and Bill Clinton emerged
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
