Trump convention coup

[IceSpear]

No. This is about as likely as Hillary getting indicted was.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I could see an Electoral College coup more than a convention coup. 

Faithless electors could throw the election into the House of Representatives.  At that point, another Republican could finish 3rd in the Electoral College and possibly be chosen by the House as President.  It's a longshot, but less so than a convention coup.

One reason I believe the Faithless Elector coup is more likely is that it would occur outside the glare of the media.  It would happen.  It could be kept secret until after the votes are counted, and then . . . WOWSERS!  And the people who pull it off would be pretty anonymous (although the GOP Representatives would have to publicly cast THEIR vote).

[Mr. Morden]

I could see an Electoral College coup more than a convention coup. 

Faithless electors could throw the election into the House of Representatives.  At that point, another Republican could finish 3rd in the Electoral College and possibly be chosen by the House as President.  It's a longshot, but less so than a convention coup.

I assume we'll be getting some faithless Republican electors this year even without any kind of organized plot.  Just individual electors acting on their own, because they don't like Trump.  Particularly if Trump loses anyway, the electors would have nothing to lose, so there could be quite a few defections.

[Joe Republic]

I thought most of the #NeverTrumpers weren't even going to the convention?  Seems a little difficult to stage a coup if you aren't there to lead it.

[Kingpoleon]

The ringleader:

The genius maniac:


The face:


The man on the inside:

[Lyin' Steve]

So you unbind delegates and let them all vote their conscience.  What happens in 2020?  Are the elections just for nothing now?  Does Trump lose because Cruz used Rule 20A Section C Subsection III of the official GOP rulebook to put his own delegates in Trump's slots, and now every GOP candidate has to memorize every technical detail of the cycle and the whole thing is going to become a big battle of bureaucratic subtleties and lawyers in the future?

If the GOP uses this to block Trump this year, what's to stop the tea party from doing the exact same thing to block Romney in 2012?  Could Hillary have snuck a few of her delegates into Obama's slate in 2008, pulled a fast one like this, and eked by?

[ProudModerate2]

I could see an Electoral College coup more than a convention coup. 

Faithless electors could throw the election into the House of Representatives.  At that point, another Republican could finish 3rd in the Electoral College and possibly be chosen by the House as President.  It's a longshot, but less so than a convention coup.

One reason I believe the Faithless Elector coup is more likely is that it would occur outside the glare of the media.  It would happen.  It could be kept secret until after the votes are counted, and then . . . WOWSERS!  And the people who pull it off would be pretty anonymous (although the GOP Representatives would have to publicly cast THEIR vote).

What have you been smoking ?

[Fuzzy Bear]

I could see an Electoral College coup more than a convention coup. 

Faithless electors could throw the election into the House of Representatives.  At that point, another Republican could finish 3rd in the Electoral College and possibly be chosen by the House as President.  It's a longshot, but less so than a convention coup.

One reason I believe the Faithless Elector coup is more likely is that it would occur outside the glare of the media.  It would happen.  It could be kept secret until after the votes are counted, and then . . . WOWSERS!  And the people who pull it off would be pretty anonymous (although the GOP Representatives would have to publicly cast THEIR vote).

What have you been smoking ?

Think about it:  The Presidential electors of states are, almost exclusively, political hacks, folks beholden to their party's formal organization.  Most of these folks will suffer Trump to the extent that they have to, but probably don't like him, and their attitudes reflect the attitudes of organization Republicans regarding Trump.

Congressional Republicans, overwhelmingly, would prefer someone else besides Trump.  Trump does represent a hostile takeover of, at a minimum, the GOP mechanisms that nominate their national ticket.  I think it highly likely that if the House of Representatives voted their consciences, they would vote for another Republican if the House were to elect a President.

The best part of this is that it won't happen until after the election, and will happen in a more "out of sight" way.  It would be somewhat stealth.  There would be a 2 year period before anyone would be held accountable at the polls, and if the GOP controlled House voted in Mitt Romney (for example) and he proved popular with Republicans, Trump would be reduced to a trivia question.

It's not likely, but it would be more feasible than a convention coup, which would hurt GOP Congressional candidates no matter how it played out.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

T***p Supporter Still Planning On Rioting At National Convention Anyway

as much as i love the onion, this is grossly inaccurate ― they forgot to put his dakimakura collection in the photo

[Sir Mohamed]

No. I can understand the #neverTrumpers, bot they ain’t stop the thin-skinned narcissist from clinching the nomination. If they want to stop him, they should endorse and vote for Hillary Clinton.

[PeteB]

Unfortunately NO, it will not happen.  For this to transpire, there needs to be a leadership in the GOP, instead of the current vacuum, there need to be clear party policy principles, which won't get bent as the candidate wants; most importantly there needs to be a few more spines in the convention hall .

The best the delegates can do is to change the rules now, so that in the future any wannabe Trump-like populists have to form their own political organization if they want to be POTUS, instead of hijacking the GOP.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

The best part of this is that it won't happen until after the election, and will happen in a more "out of sight" way.  It would be somewhat stealth.  There would be a 2 year period before anyone would be held accountable at the polls, and if the GOP controlled House voted in Mitt Romney (for example) and he proved popular with Republicans, Trump would be reduced to a trivia question.

This.

Those of us older than 30: Remember when everyone said that if the popular vote winner ever lost the electoral vote, the American people would be outraged and demand the Electoral College be abolished?

Yeah, that happened.

In two years' time, everyone will have forgotten that the President's election hung on four faithless electors and 200-some Congressmen overturning a democratic vote.

[Fuzzy Bear]

The best part of this is that it won't happen until after the election, and will happen in a more "out of sight" way.  It would be somewhat stealth.  There would be a 2 year period before anyone would be held accountable at the polls, and if the GOP controlled House voted in Mitt Romney (for example) and he proved popular with Republicans, Trump would be reduced to a trivia question.

This.

Those of us older than 30: Remember when everyone said that if the popular vote winner ever lost the electoral vote, the American people would be outraged and demand the Electoral College be abolished?

Yeah, that happened.

In two years' time, everyone will have forgotten that the President's election hung on four faithless electors and 200-some Congressmen overturning a democratic vote.

The other thing about the Faithless Electors' Coup is that Trump couldn't get it overturned by suing.  After a while, if he tried suing, public opinion would turn against him in a way that would jeopardize his "brand".  Trump wants to be President; I don't believe for a minute that this is all a gag or a stunt, but he doesn't want to go broke in the process, and he's too smart to do that.  I suppose that if Trump were undone by Faithless Electors, and, then, the House of Representatives, he'd come to realize he had been beaten by the REAL Machiavellians.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

The other thing about the Faithless Electors' Coup is that Trump couldn't get it overturned by suing.  After a while, if he tried suing, public opinion would turn against him in a way that would jeopardize his "brand".  Trump wants to be President; I don't believe for a minute that this is all a gag or a stunt, but he doesn't want to go broke in the process, and he's too smart to do that.  I suppose that if Trump were undone by Faithless Electors, and, then, the House of Representatives, he'd come to realize he had been beaten by the REAL Machiavellians.

Trump would claim victory, make a whole lot of noise, probably actually file suit on paper, and then quietly walk away.

He'd probably find a way to turn himself into a folk hero, @RealPresidentTrump, and he and Alex Jones could have a TV show where they peddle rumors about Reptillians in Congress every episode.

[DrScholl]

One Republican hope was already destroyed when no indictment was handed down, so they are clinging to another one. Trump will not be denied the nomination.

[beaver2.0]

No.  Trump will get the nomination.

[Likely Voter]

While it is hard to imagine this succeeding, there is still damage that would be done if this gets any traction at all. Getting a minority report to the floor of the convention and having a vote on unbinding the delegates and that getting hundreds of votes is going to make the RNC look like chaos, which isn't going to help with the message of unity.  I'm sure that Preibus is doing everything he can to prevent that minority report ever coming out of the rules committee.

[Beefalow and the Consumer]

Getting a minority report to the floor of the convention and having a vote on unbinding the delegates and that getting hundreds of votes is going to make the RNC look like chaos, which isn't going to help with the message of unity.

Is that train still boarding passengers at this point?

[Likely Voter]

The fact that Trump invited Cruz to speak even though he hasn't yet endorsed (something Trump previously said was a pre-condition) shows that he knows how important unity is.  Picking someone like Pence would also go a long way to creating some unity. There may not be a lot of unity, but the RNC could potentially make the appearance of unity.

A nasty floor vote to unbind the delegates will throw that out the window.