DONALD Trump is winning more and more states in the primary contests across America and has knocked out all of his opponents in the previously crowded field, making it now a three-man race. The Grand Old Party (GOP) leaders are scrambling to stop the surge and possibly the inevitable nomination of Trump, contending that he goes antithetical to the conservative values and principles the party stands for.
Much to the dismay of the party elders, they are left with only two contenders still running against Trump in the race to the White House — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, whom the party loves to hate, and the less popular candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Although Trump continues to dominate the race with an overwhelming lead in the number of delegates, he still has to win the required threshold of 1,237 delegates to be the party’s presumptive nominee. He may get that number after all the primary contests across America is finished, but what happens if he does not?
The Republican establishment has now been open about rallying behind Ted Cruz, helping him with fund raising and convincing other Republicans to vote for him until he gets the magic number and be the party’s nominee. The Cruz-Kasich tandem has been an option that many have espoused to defeat Trump.
According to political experts, the GOP rules states that if no candidate gets 1,237 delegates before the party convention, then the Republican Party can, in fact, field another candidate, which could be Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, among other possible contenders. Then, that candidate will need to receive at least 1,237 delegates to effectively kick out Trump despite the reality star/business mogul billionaire’s lead in the primary contests.
What happens if this scenario unfolds and Trump is denied the party nomination? In various reports, he himself said his supporters will ‘riot’ in protest of the party’s meddling with the people’s vote. Some speculate Trump may even run as a third party/independent candidate.
Will the GOP learn to love and accept Trump? Shall it continue its efforts to support another candidate just to stop Trump from clinching the Republican Party nomination? Can the GOP do it?
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
