There is a right way and a wrong way to #DumpTrump.
Perhaps it is a consequence of the echo chamber, but there are rumors circulating that the Republican establishment plans to force a brokered convention where Donald Trump’s delegates can jump ship after the first inconclusive round of voting, which would allow them to support a less polarizing candidate, perhaps one not even currently running.
This is perhaps the worst possible course of action for the Republican party.
Voters have grown used to politicians failing to meet campaign promises.
Voters are used to politicians moderating and joining the machine when they get to Washington.
Voters are even used to well-connected and monied interests supporting candidates they themselves don’t.
However, voters are not accustomed to having their clear and decisive voice ignored and overruled by those who think they know better.
Going forward with an anti-Trump strategy that actively seeks to override primary voters in a non-democratic contest may be the anvil that snaps the camel in half.
As the punditocracy has explained, Trump has ripped open the rift between the GOP base and their elites.
This rift always existed, but now the grassroots have a standard bearer and are more organized.
With arcane convention rules or convoluted state delegate distribution methods, tactics that will surely be branded as insider maneuvering, the powers will lend credibility Trump’s next step.
Does anyone really think Trump would not run third party if given a semi- legitimate claim to do so?
This is all the casus belli, or justifying war, Trump would need to permanently damage the Republican party.
With the Trump brand established in most states, it would be simple for him to rally supporters that are already upset with the insiders.
If Trump is given victim status, it’s conceivable that voters supporting other candidates who lose momentum after the convention may join him.
Trump’s camp is not the only place to find people fed up with Washington. Cheating him out of the nomination confirms many voters’ conceptions of self-dealing elites manipulating the base.
If Trump is to be stopped, he must be stopped through the primary process. The only practical route to do this is to support Ted Cruz.
This is likewise a candidate the so-called establishment finds unacceptable.
However, the GOP cannot claim the merits of being a democratic operation without also facing the setbacks.
There are legitimate concerns about having Trump as the frontman for a political party.
Time would be better spent identifying why there is such a difference in policy preference between party leadership and the mass of voters and how to patch it.
As far as this election is concerned, if the people are to choose, then they must be free to choose poorly.
zaochamb@indiana.edu
