I do not agree with the WSJ Editorial below because it is absurd to hold that the GOP delegates in Cleveland are bound to vote for Trump. Because the whole Republican Primary System is flawed.
In many states the Party rules allowed cross-over voting which allowed Democrats to vote in the Republican Primary.
Last Spring, when most of the primaries were held, Hillary was considered a winner in the both the primaries and in the general election and so a lot of Democrats, it is my contention, crossed over and voted in the Republican Primary to select the Republican nominee they considered to be the easiest for Hillary to beat in the General Election.
In the Spring the Republican candidate in the primaries the polls indicated that Hillary would defeat most easily was Donald Trump and therefore I believe that a lot of Democrats voted for Trump in order to guarantee that it would be against Trump that Hillary would run in November.
The primary system is flawed. We should learn from the British. Only members of the Conservative Party can vote for Conservative candidates for Prime Minister and only Labor Party members can vote for Labor candidates for Prime Minister. In every state in the United States, the Republican Party must somehow restrict voting in the Republican Primary that chooses a candidate for the presidency of the United States to those voters who belong to the Republican Party. - Leo Rugiens
Trump and the Delegates
A court ruling gives an impetus to unbinding GOP convention-goers.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial Board Member Joe Rago
on what happens if the RNC’s Rules Committee votes to free the delegates
in Cleveland. Photo credit: Associated Press.
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The case was brought by Beau Correll, a Ted Cruz supporter who doesn’t want to vote for Donald Trump as Virginia law says he must. Federal Judge Robert Payne’s opinion makes a persuasive case that the Virginia law—and by implication any state’s law—that binds delegates violates First Amendment rights of free speech and association.
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Political parties are private institutions that exist to advance their common beliefs and to nominate candidates without state interference, and delegates must be unconstrained in their choices.
“First Amendment rights for parties and their adherents are particularly strong in the context of the nomination and selection of the President and Vice President,” Judge Payne writes in Correll v. Herring.
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The ruling applies only to Virginia’s delegates to both party conventions, but it may give an impetus to Republicans in other states who are pushing for a “conscience clause” that would unbind all delegates. That question will be put this week before the Republican National Convention’s 112-member rules committee. Merely one-quarter of the rules committee, or 28 members, can send a minority report to the floor for a debate that would be followed by an up-or-down vote by the full convention.
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How a vote to unbind would shake out is anyone’s guess, but there is nothing illegitimate about it. Republicans should respect the preferences of primary voters, though not automatically. Political parties exist to win elections—in other words, nominating the candidate with the best chance in November. If the delegates are unbound to exercise their judgment, and a majority concludes that is someone other than Mr. Trump, the GOP has the right to do so.
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Mr. Trump carried 36 states and secured about 1,450 pledged delegates, more than the 1,237 who make a majority under current GOP rules. By the time all the ballots were cast, he received 44% of the popular vote. {Many of those ballots were cast by Democrats who favored Hillary Clinton in the General Election in November - Leo Rugiens}
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Then again, Mitt Romney won 52% in 2012, John McCain 47% in 2008, and George W. Bush 61% in 2000, so Mr. Trump’s plurality support is the weakest of any modern GOP nominee. Mr. Trump won 13.4 million votes. That’s more than any GOP nominee ever, as he likes to observe—but fewer than Hillary Clinton’s 15.9 million votes this year.
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Since his Indiana victory in May, Mr. Trump has enlarged his campaign but his organization and fundraising continue to lag the Democrat’s. He trails Mrs. Clinton in the Real Clear Politics national polling average by about four and a half points despite her historic unpopularity.
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Mr. Trump has also continued to stoke doubts about his candidacy and to behave in ways that reflect poorly on his political and strategic judgment. He has courted pointless controversies like Trump University. Few candidates are bestowed gifts akin to Mrs. Clinton’s private email scandal, but Mr. Trump changed the subject to Saddam Hussein.
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The case for unbinding the delegates is that Republicans have a great chance to retake the White House and reform the federal government. If they are going to gamble on a high-risk candidate like Mr. Trump, then they should ratify it willingly in a robust floor debate.
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Mr. Trump says he’s confident he’ll prevail even if the delegates are unbound, and if that’s true then he ought to welcome a conscience vote. The convention system is designed to produce consensus nominees, but many reluctant Republicans haven’t rallied around the winner this time. Winning on the floor would add to the legitimacy of his nomination and help unite the party despite his critics. If Mr. Trump can’t obtain the support of a majority of delegates, he’s probably a loser in November.
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Then again, denying Mr. Trump the nomination could also be futile at this stage. Defeating him would inflame party divisions, and no Republican can win without the support of Mr. Trump’s core voters. This is why even a conscience vote is opposed by the Republican National Committee.
The anti-Trump lobby claims the GOP has a moral obligation to drop the businessman, but their demands would be more credible if they fielded an alternative who could win in November. Many of them are merely fronting for Ted Cruz, who doesn’t want his fingerprints on any convention fight but perhaps wouldn’t mind benefiting from it.
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GOP primary voters never coalesced around a non-Trump candidate, and they rejected Mr. Cruz when the field narrowed to a virtual head to head. {Democrats recognized that Cruz, a world class champion debater represented a real threat to Hillary Clinton and therefore the primary objective was to defeat Cruz in the primary and make Trump Hillary's opponent in the general election - Leo Rugiens} The Texan is no more likely a winner than Mr. Trump. {Rago has no logical basis for thinking that; on the contrary, Cruz was only 400 delegates behind Trump in the rigged primary system - Leo Rugiens} Would the delegates—and voters in November—accept a nominee like John Kasich or Marco Rubio who polls better against Mrs. Clinton?
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A conscience vote would be unprecedented, but then this entire year has no precedent. Republicans should nominate the best candidate they think has the best chance of winning in November. If that means a raucous debate on the floor, then Americans might appreciate the exercise in democratic self-government.
