What do you call a presidential candidate who invents a phony talking point portraying himself as a victim, when he in fact is the perpetrator?
Bill Clinton? Yes, but let’s not get nostalgic.
Mr. Donald J. Trump? Yes, bingo.
Trump and his merry band of Trumpmedia have relentlessly pushed the narrative that Trump is the victim of a rigged delegate selection system. When Ted Cruz gets more delegates than his share of vote, it’s called “stealing” and “cheating” and more evidence of “Lyin’ Ted.”
Being the victim of a rigged system is essential to the popularity of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. And Mr. Donald J. Trump.
But it’s completely false. As we have demonstrated before, Trump is the single biggest beneficiary of the delegate allocation so far, winning a much higher number of delegates per vote than Cruz.
Trump is likely to “steal” delegates from the “rigged” system again tonight in the northeastern primaries.
It’s worth mentioning that Trump victories in the northeast are no sign of general election strength. No Republican, including Trump, is likely to win any of the states voting tonight in a general election, much less New York or Massachussets which Trump previously won. Barring a Hillary indictment, the northeast will stay blue.
(In 2012 I wrote about the perennial false hope of Pennsylvania, Republicans whom the Gods would destroy, they first give hope in Pennsylvania.)
My formerly home State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is a perfect example. It is thoroughly run by Democrats and unions, had the highest vote percentage for Obama in 2012 (63%), and the Republican Party is dysfunctional. No Republican presidential candidate is winning Rhode Island in the general election. Yet a video of some people in Warwick running after a Trump bus was hyped by Trumpmedia as a sign of Trump’s overwhelming popularity. You are being played, people.
Scott Rasmussen describes how Trump, once again, is likely to get more delegates tonight than his vote percentage:
Tuesday should be a very good day for Donald Trump. Voters in Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware and Pennsylvania will take part in selecting 172 delegates to the Republican national convention. Trump is widely expected to win all five contests and win between 98 and 123 of the 172 delegates at stake.But, because such a great performance is already built into projections, winning these delegates will not increase Trump’s chances of wrapping up the nomination…. In practical terms, then, the race for the Republican nomination will be determined by the 10 races left after Tuesday’s competition….There is one ironic footnote to the Northeastern Primary. The very process that Trump claims is rigged against him will once again work to his benefit. His share of the delegates won on Tuesday will almost certainly exceed his share of the vote. Up to this point, Trump has earned 28 percent more delegates than his pro rata share of the vote would deem appropriate.
All the Trump supporters screaming about the nomination being stolen should demand the convention’s rules be changed on the first ballot to a strictly proportional allocation of delegates based on vote percentage.
In which case Mr. Donald J. Trump’s “theft” of delegates would come to an end, as would his hope of winning on the first ballot.
UPDATE 11 p.m. — This may be the biggest “theft” of the season. Trump gets approximately 60% of the vote tonight but over 95% of the delegates. System sure is “rigged”:
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