Unintended Consequences: The RNC Plot For Jeb! - Granite Grok

Unintended Consequences:
The RNC Plot For Jeb!

Steve has written here, and also covered in the Sept 5th newsread, that there appears to be a complex plot by the GOP Establishment (GOPe, rhymes with Dope) to ensure that Jeb actually could lose the early primaries and win the nomination.

According to Sundance over at Conservative Treehouse, the plot was originally hatched when the sum of all their fears was Ted Cruz.

Trump is leading GOPe and Jeb a merry dance - Robert Arial, Sep 14th
Trump is leading GOPe and Jeb a merry dance – Robert Arial, Sep 14th
Indeed, in his most recent article on the topic, Sundance claims that the rules changes and careful plotting were going on while Cruz was still somewhat supportive of Mitch McConnell, and doing his bit as deputy chair of the NRSC (National RINO Support Committee), even donating $240k to that cause. All the while, the GOPe was effectively plotting to ensure that no movement conservative, and especially not Cruz, could win the nomination. Trump, of course, throws a “Yuge” wrench into the works, one which they’d dearly love to remove.

By the end of 2014, Cruz had sniffed out the plot, and quit the NRSC in disgust – no wonder he talks about the lies of McConnell and the “Washington Cartel”! Cruz is smart, very smart, and he’s figured it out. He also knows that if Trump is removed from the race and his supporters are reasonably apportioned, Jeb’s path to the nomination is all but assured. It’s hardly surprising, then, that Cruz has figured out (A) attacking Trump is a fool’s errand which only drives his numbers up, and (B) he might do better keeping Trump in the race, which is why you shouldn’t be too shocked at this picture….

trump-cruz-2

Sundance has arrived, by careful assembly of the clues, at the conclusion that the GOPe are terrified of losing their grip and have declared all-out war on the conservative base:

Conservative Treehouse gop-versus-tea-party In 2014, the RNC approved selection rules that govern how each state’s delegates are portioned out from the primaries. Under one of the changes, states holding their primaries between March 1 and March 14 will have their delegates doled out proportionately with election results, a change that will likely stymie a movement candidate.

States that have primaries on or after March 15 will be winner-take-all states.

That’s important because another RNC rule change requires that a candidate must win a majority of delegates in eight or more states before his or her name may be presented for nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention.

With 18 GOP presidential candidates, for now, it will be that much harder for any candidate to win a majority in any state, let alone eight.

It’s worth reading the whole article at Conservative Treehouse, although I don’t quite believe his assertion that Perry and Fiorina are both establishment stooges – after all, why would the donor class risk their investment in Jeb by letting Perry quit so soon, if he was part of the master plan? (And Fiorina is running a strong outsider campaign.)

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