HotAir.com’s Allahpundit reports that the Republican National Committee’s Reince Priebus is polling GOP delegations across the country to gauge interest in dumping Donald Trump as the party’s presidential nominee.
Man, between this and the fact that an anti-Trumper was just put in charge of the Rules Committee, if you thought the relationship between Team Trump and the RNC was strained before, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
There’s no claim here, please note, that Priebus is encouraging the dump-Trumpers. If he thinks a coup against Trump would shatter the party and sink any replacement nominee, he might actually be trying to head off the effort.
Priebus has spoken with GOP party chairmen in multiple states in recent days in part to get a better sense of how large the anti-Trump faction is among their convention delegations, according to two people familiar with the conversations.
While Priebus has made clear in these conversations that he is not spearheading the latest push for a coup, his involvement sends a signal that the RNC is taking this effort to dump Trump seriously even as other movements have fizzled.
One source said Priebus’ ultimate goal is unclear. …
… The RNC doesn’t deny that the calls are happening but claims CNN is misunderstanding what they’re about. Hmmmm. Another possibility that occurs to me: What if Reince is trying to nudge Trump to quit by giving him a pretext to say “the system is too rigged against me!” and then drop out? Trump quitting would spare him the indignity of being deposed at the convention and might make some Republican voters more amenable to eventually supporting a replacement nominee. If the party dumps Trump then they’re overruling the will of the voters. But if Trump bails on the party, well, the RNC has no choice but to find someone else, right?
