Cogito Ergo Non Serviam

GOP Rules Floor Fight Shows Divisions

Usually, American political conventions are tightly scripted events. Even, the spontaneous demonstrations are scheduled for a set time and duration. Yesterday afternoon, though, during the normally mundane business of adopting the rules of the convention, a significant rebellion broke out that the Trump forces crushed with an intraparty ruthlessness rarely seen outside of hardcore communist organizations. The suppression of the move was labeled "cheating," "brownshirt" and "fascist." These labels came from members of the convention who were or have been elected officials. This bodes ill for party unity.

There were two different groups involved. One was headed by Kendal Unruh of Colorado, a Never Trump crowd, that sought to unbind the delegates from their pledge to support whomever they had promised to back when chosen to attend the convention. The other, led by Virginia's Ken Cuccinelli and Utah's Mike Lee, wanted a slew of new rules that would govern the 2020 nominating process (e.g., ending open primaries so that only registered Republicans could vote in primaries and attend caucuses). They got together and crafted petitions to force a roll call vote on the rules.

The Trump operation seems to have been caught flat-footed by the move. The rules of the convention stated that if a majority of delegates from seven states' delegations sign a petition to hold a roll call vote, the chair must allow one. The petitioners had trouble finding the secretary of the convention to hand in the signatures from 11 states. When they did manage to submit the signatures to a representative of the secretary, the acting chairman of the convention Arkansas Congressman Steve Womack called for a voice vote to adopt the rules, declared that they had been adopted despite the general cacophony, and was met with the chant "roll call vote."

Politico reports "Then, Womack stepped off the stage and let the RNC and Trump campaign whips go to work. With the lists of insurgent delegates in hand, dozens of aides worked the convention floor for about 15 minutes, collecting their own set of withdrawal signatures. In the end, four of the initial 11 states saw enough delegates abandon the roll call effort to scuttle it: Minnesota, Maine, Iowa and the District of Columbia. Alaska, according to the RNC, failed to submit enough valid signatures to begin with."

That wasn't entirely true. Alaska delegate Fred Brown told Politico he did get the required signatures. "I had secured more than enough signatures from Alaska delegates, but the convention secretary was not at the designated location where I was told to submit them," he said. "Some said she was hiding. Others said she was protected by guards. Regardless, I was told I could also present the signatures from the floor. Nevertheless, when the vote occurred, my mic was not turned on. When I attempted to present these signatures at the stage, my effort was ignored by the chair, and the security guard turned me away."

This is typical convention hardball, but if the Trump campaign had truly been on top of the issue, this would never have come to pass. Morton Blackwell, a conservative Virginia delegate told Politico that the process was "crooked." Mr. Cuccinelli told MSNBC that the Republican National Committee had "cheated." Former US Senator Gordon Humphrey, a delegate from New Hampshire, said to the same network, "This is not a meeting of the Republican National Committee. This is a meeting of brownshirts." When asked what he meant by that, he said, "I mean people who act like fascists. They might not be fascist but they act like fascists. They have the manners -- or the lack of manners -- of fascists."

The response went beyond mere words. Ms. Unruh convinced the Colorado delegation to walk out of the convention. She said, "You will see more insurgency."

It is said that a week is a long time in politics. This week may be particularly long for the Trumpniks.

© Copyright 2016 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.



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