You gotta admit it’s been fun. The very thought of Reince Priebus and the RNC actually getting a spine and booting Das Donald and damn the consequences was almost too dizzying to consider. But consider it we did, and with great relish. There have been several diaries presenting the pros and cons. But recess is over, time to get back to work. It won’t happen, but not for the reason you think.
To start with, according to research it could be done. It would be sloppy, ugly, and might end up in court, but it could be done. In a great story on The Daily Beast, author Jay Michaelson dug into the nuts and bolts and discovered that the RNC could topple Trump. It all came down to one single word in Rule 9. Here’s the rule;
“the Republican National Committee is hereby authorized and empowered to fill any and all vacancies which may occur by reason of death, declination, or otherwise of the Republican candidate for President of the United States or the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States.”
See the one word copout? I underlined it in the passage. “Otherwise”. What the hell is otherwise? The RNC can claim that it means whatever they want it to mean. If the RNC decides that Mein Furor actually is unfit to serve, they could use that one word to ditch him. It would be ugly, and Trump might sue, but they could do it.
It wold be highly disruptive, and time is of the essence. The deadline for adding or changing names on the ballot have already expired in some states, and the last state, Alaska has a cutoff of September 21st. Sometime in early September is the latest day that the RNC could get a replacement name on the ballot in enough states to have a chance to get 270 electoral votes.
The Electoral College is another problem. Thirteen states have state laws that bind Electoral delegates to vote for the candidate on the ballot with the most votes. If Trump won any of those states, he would get those electoral votes even if he was no longer the candidate.
But all of that is actually irrelevant, it doesn’t matter. It’s all just “jerkin’ time” as they said in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. And here’s why.
The GOP can’t ditch Trump, they desperately need him. Kind of funny isn’t it? The party needs the very monster who is trying to demolish it in order to survive. It’s really very simple, which is why *I* of all people was able to think it through.
The RNC is stupid. After all, they let BeetleTrump out of his coffin and didn’t put him back again, didn’t they? But they’re not brain dead. The RNC, along with most other Republicans with 12 functioning brain cells have give up on Trump. But not on the party, or the down ballot races. The Koch brothers are sitting out the Presidential election, but they’re throwing post of money into almost every state for House and Senate races, even statewide races. If Trump goes down double digits, especially in swing states, the RNC will start to discretely pull money and manpower support from Trump and funnel it into the down ballot races. The party will still “sanction” him, they just won’t “support”his campaign.
But they can’t dump him, it would kill the party. If the RNC blatantly ditches Trump, his rabid base of Trombies will sit out the election in open revolt and revenge. This can’t happen. The RNC desperately needs those people to come out to the polls, even if they vote for Trump, in order to support the down ballot races. If the Trump base sits out the election, the GOP could lose bloody Justice of the Peace races for Gods sake! They have to let him continue his Bataan Death March and look for that silver lining.
So, there you have it. It was a great diversion to talk about, but it won’t happen. I’m pretty sure that the RNC lawyers and strategists know their own rules word for word, they’re probably printed on their pajamas. They would have examined this possibility long ago, and would have already used if they thought they could get away with it. But they can’t if they have any prayer of holding the House much less the Senate.
Thanks as always for reading!