Donald Trump is getting more headaches from Republicans. A group of Republican delegates launched an initiative to block Donald Trump from getting the nomination at the party’s national convention on July 18-21 in Cleveland.
Kendal Unruh, a delegate from Colorado along with other delegates are pushing for the inclusion of a “conscience clause” that would allow delegates to vote against Trump. She made the proposal to the Republican National Convention (RNC) Rules Committee composed of 112-member panel.
Unruh is a member of the Rules Committee and she is encouraging others to support her proposal. She needs 56 out of the panel, which determines how Republicans select their nominee during the national convention.
Anybody but Trump coalition
She described the group as a coalition of “pockets of resistance” against Trump within the Republican Party. They are supporters of Senator Ted Cruz, Sen. Marco Rubio, and Gov. John Kasich.
Unruh said, “This is a coalition of Kasich, Cruz and Rubio (supporters) and we are all agreeing on one goal, which is: Anybody but Trump.” They call their coalition “Free the Delegates 2016”
Curly Haugland, a member of the Rules Committee from North Dakota supports the group. He is considered the last hope of Republicans who want to deny Trump of the nomination in Cleveland. He has been arguing that delegates should not be compelled to vote for the Republican presumptive nominee.
Another delegate from New Jersey, Steve Lonegan said Republicans have a “moral obligation” to stop Trump in Cleveland if they believe that he does not represent what the party stands for.
According to him, almost every two hours people are contacting him regarding the effort to block Trump and how to join the group. “This has never been done before, so there’s no text book on how to do it. So we’re building an organic effort, state by state, to convince members of the Rules Committee to sign onto a rule that unbinds the delegates to vote their moral conscience,” said Lonegan.
House Speaker Ryan says Republicans should follow conscience on Trump
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republicans should follow their conscience when deciding if they would support Trump during the presidential election in November.
“The last thing I would do is tell anybody to do something that’s contrary to their conscience. Of course I wouldn’t do that,” said Ryan in an interview with NBC, which will be aired on Sunday. The network released an excerpt of the interview on Friday.
Ryan endorsed Trump earlier this month. A day after his endorsement, he criticized the Republican presumptive nominee for attacking the federal judge presiding over lawsuits against Trump University. According to him, Trump’s racist comment against Judge Gonzalo Curiel was “completely unacceptable”
“I do absolutely disavow those comments. They are wrong. Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is certainly the textbook definition of a racist comment,” said Ryan.
The Republican establishment also recently rejected Trump’s message following the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. They called his reaction to the tragedy “opportunistic, shallow, petty, and partisan. The Republican presumptive nominee received strong criticisms for reviving his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country.
