The GOP handed the anti-Trump movement a defeat when they stopped an attempt to unbind delegates, which would allow them to “vote for any candidate they like.”
In fact, the voice vote for Trump was loud “the presiding officer did not need to call for an official count.”
Party officials used a voice vote to reject a proposal by Colorado delegate Kendal Unruh to let delegates “cast a vote of conscience” and abandon the candidate they had been committed too through the state primaries or caucuses.The amendment became a focal point of furious lobbying that’s pitted the so-called Never Trump movement against Trump’s campaign and top leaders of the Republican Party. On a 112-member rules panel dominated by party and Trump loyalists, the outcome was expected.Unruh expected to collect signatures from 28 members to bring a vote to unbind the delegates on the convention floor in Cleveland next week. However, she was only able to collect 21.
Delegates said the party should not abandon Trump since he “overwhelmingly won GOP primaries.” The rules state that delegates must honor “the outcomes of the primaries and caucuses in their states in most cases.” Some said the party must unite against Hillary:
“You want to ignore what is really the grassroots, which is millions and millions and millions of voters who voted for Donald Trump,” said Stephen Munisteri, a delegate and leading GOP figure from Texas.He added, “The only way to advance the conservative cause is through a strong Republican Party that is united to defeat Hillary Clinton and the Democrats this fall.”
The convention begins on Monday in Cleveland, OH. The anti-Trump movement “believe current rules already free delegates to support anybody and have planned to contest balloting when the convention votes for its nominee next week.”
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