2016 April 24^th

Donald Trump is not happy with the way the primary election is conducted by the various sub-cultures within the Republican Party. He claims the process is “crooked” and makes other equally uncomplimentary remarks about the Party. There is no one size fits all with the procedure. The voter does not get a guarantee that a ballot cast for the candidate will surely result in a vote for the candidate. Often a vote for the candidate results in a vote for a delegate who might, or might not, be pledged to remain committed to the candidate at the convention. Many of the delegates in Georgia, Louisiana and other states were selected on the basis of their commitment to Ted Cruz after the first ballot.

Is the process as crooked as Trump claims? If you are a Trump supporter it certainly is; if you don’t like Trump the method isn’t crooked at all. Those who claim the process is just fine include George Will who has had many harsh, but not inaccurate, things to say about Donald Trump. Will, as do other supporters of the RNC’s methods, claim that these rules were announced well in advance of the primaries and Trump’s supporters had as much notice of the procedures as did Cruz’ supporters. Will also points out that the founding fathers were not fans of direct elections. Until 1828 only land owning white men could vote and their vote was for electors in whose hands the Presidential decision ultimately fell. Will finds this procedure quite satisfactory and can’t understand why Trump and his supporters should object to it.

Trump, on the other hand is not at all sanguine about such methods. Simply because these procedures had been announced in advance doesn’t make them right. In local elections when you vote for a particular ballot issue if there are more favorable votes than opposition votes the ayes have it; there is no debate. Most Americans believe that same principle should also apply to something as important as selecting presidential candidates. When it doesn’t it means that skullduggery of some sort must surely be afoot. Trump now spends considerable effort reinforcing exactly this point of view. Even Dr. Ben Carson, a recent convert to Trump’s position joins in. Carson points out that everyone understood the rules of Jim Crow too, but that didn’t make those rules legitimate.

At this point it seems that either Trump wins on the first ballot or he probably doesn’t win. If either Trump or Cruz wins it is highly unlikely that the Republican Party can avoid self–destructing.