The Never Trump Movement Just Died Amid Convention Chaos
Screen grab via YouTube
CLEVELAND—The 2016 Republican National Convention lasted all of three hours before breaking into total chaos Monday afternoon.
Jim Newell
A faction of anti-Trump delegates, led by Colorado delegate Kendal
Unruh, sought to record a roll call vote on approval of the 2016 rules
report and filed the necessary petition, with delegate majorities from
more than seven states, to do so. The ideal for anti-Trumpers
would have been to have the full convention reject the rules—which
strictly bound delegates to the results of primaries, and didn’t include
a “conscience” loophole for delegates—and then either rewrite them or
keep operating on the less-stringent 2012 rules. Mostly, though,
anti-Trump delegates just wanted to register their public approval
through a roll call vote.
The leaders of the convention appeared to ignore the roll call
petition, though, and just tried to steamroll it via voice vote. The
“ayes” outshouted the “noes,” and the chair gaveled in passage. Chaos
ensued, and members of the Colorado delegation walked out. “Record the
vote!” went the chants. “U-S-A!” went the counter-chants.
About 10 minutes later, a voice vote on the rules passage was called
up again. The ayes and the noes appeared even, but the chair called it
for the ayes again. The chair of the Utah delegation was allowed to
speak and called for a roll call vote. The convention chair then
explained that though nine states had signed the original petition for
the roll call vote, three states then subsequently withdrew—leaving the
petitioners one short of the number of states needed.
And then Never Trumper Gordon Humphrey, a former U.S. senator and a
New Hampshire delegate, went on TV and pronounced this a "meeting of
brownshirts." This is your law-and-order party, America.
Slate will have more on this later.
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