# Can the Republican establishment stop Trump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 22, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-republican-establishment-stop-trump/746759 "2016-02-22T00:37:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-republican-establishment-stop-trump/746759/1 "2016-02-22T00:37:06Z")
So let’s say I’m a moderate Republican desperately hoping for a return to sanity. Or a party powerbroker desperately hoping for a candidate who will play ball. Or a… Yanno what, let’s just say I’m Super Reince Priebus. If I decide that I really don’t want to see Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, what can I do at this point to stop his nomination? AIUI, I could throw the political and fiscal strength of the RNC and its supporters at Rubio, and hope that gains him enough delegates to win him the nomination outright. Barring that, hope that he gets enough to force a contested convention. At which point I hope to leverage backroom deals and whatnot to get Rubio the nod. Is that about right? Is that it? Is there anything the “establishment” can do to slow or stop the Donald train? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-republican-establishment-stop-trump/746759/2 "2016-02-22T00:59:16Z")
[How will GOP stop Trump?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=783799) To summarize, no they can’t and if Cruz is the alternative they probably don’t want to. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-republican-establishment-stop-trump/746759/3 "2016-02-22T03:48:01Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > [How will GOP stop Trump?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=783799) > To summarize, no they can’t and if Cruz is the alternative they probably don’t want to. Dammit, thank you! I don’t know how I missed that thread. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-republican-establishment-stop-trump/746759/4 "2016-02-22T05:27:18Z")
> [@andros](#): > > So let’s say I’m a moderate Republican desperately hoping for a return to sanity. Or a party powerbroker desperately hoping for a candidate who will play ball. Or a… > > Yanno what, let’s just say I’m Super Reince Priebus. > > If I decide that I really don’t want to see Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, what can I do at this point to stop his nomination? > > AIUI, I could throw the political and fiscal strength of the RNC and its supporters at Rubio, and hope that gains him enough delegates to win him the nomination outright. Barring that, hope that he gets enough to force a contested convention. > > At which point I hope to leverage backroom deals and whatnot to get Rubio the nod. > > Is that about right? Is that it? > > Is there anything the “establishment” can do to slow or stop the Donald train? At this point the “establishment” may calculate a Hillary thrashing of The Donald will set things right. Anything else is likely to backfire. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-republican-establishment-stop-trump/746759/5 "2016-02-22T06:07:31Z")
The GOP kingmakers have no leverage to do anything at this point. The Trump train is comprised of a large chunk of the lowest demographic rung of the Republican electorate that the oligarch fellating GOP strategists have been taking for granted and shitting on for decades. They finally hear someone not parroting the usual super capitalist - quasi libertarian - holy roller - no more taxes ever! nonsense and they are in love. All the advisor class can do is get on their knees and start sucking. Which they will do. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-republican-establishment-stop-trump/746759/6 "2016-02-22T06:11:14Z")
It’s pretty hard to see what they could do that they aren’t already doing, outside of making Kasich some sort of offer he can’t refuse to drop out of the race. I’ve actually been kinda surprised the GOP powers that be have managed to keep Trump from picking up _any_ GOP endorsements from elected party figures\*. I figured at least one or two tea party House members would be hardcore/opportunistic/stupid enough to throw in with him once he started actually winning primaries. Even Ben Carson managed to net one Rep endorsement, and Bernie’s clocking in with three. So they’re at least holding the line amongst elected officials. And they finally seemed to have lined up behind an opposition candidate. But at this point, it certainly seems possible that its too little too late. Certainly if Trump manages to take a majority of the Super Tuesday states, its pretty hard to see what will stop him. \*(at least defined by Nate Silver’s criteria for what counts as a party figure, I’m sure a few state senators or mayors or whatever have endorsed him) ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2016, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-republican-establishment-stop-trump/746759/7 "2016-02-22T06:16:12Z")
> [@astro](#): > > The Trump train is comprised of a large chunk of the lowest demographic rung of the Republican electorate that the oligarch fellating GOP strategists have been taking for granted and shitting on for decades. They finally hear someone not parroting the usual super capitalist - quasi libertarian - holy roller - no more taxes ever! nonsense and they are in love. Yep, that’s pretty much it. Cruz could ride down out of Heaven on his fire-breathing Jesus horse, Rubio could finally hit puberty and Kasich could suddenly become relevant yet, Teflon coated Trump will have all the super duper angry white people in his back pocket and win the nomination. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-republican-establishment-stop-trump/746759/8 "2016-02-23T01:05:53Z")
Can the Democrats, for that matter, stop him if it comes to that? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-republican-establishment-stop-trump/746759/9 "2016-02-23T01:10:18Z")
RE: [How will GOP stop Trump?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=783799) > [@andros](#): > > Dammit, thank you! I don’t know how I missed that thread. I don’t know either, but rather that ride herd on two threads, I am going to close this one and recommend that those interested in the subject click on the link and participate there. [/Moderating]