How badly fractured is the Republican Party? Its chair is actually having to threaten the losing presidential primary candidates that they’ll face retaliation if they don’t support Donald Trump for president. Former candidates like Ted Cruz and John Kasich could endanger their ability to get on the ballot in future primaries, Reince Priebus suggested Sunday:
“I think these are things that our party’s going to look at in the process,” Priebus said on CBS News’s Face the Nation when asked about potential penalties for those who did not follow through on the pledge. “And I think that people who gave us their word, used information from the RNC, should be on board. I mean if you want to take part in the process.”
“People in our party are talking about what we’re going to do about this,” Priebus added. “I mean, there’s a ballot access issue in South Carolina. In order to be on the ballot in South Carolina, you actually have to pledge your support to the nominee, no matter who that person is. So what’s the penalty for that? It’s not a threat, but that’s just the question that we have a process in place.”
Can you imagine the headlines if this was coming from the Democrats?