# How will the GOP establishment try to kill the Trump nomination? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 11, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812 "2016-02-11T13:39:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/101 "2016-02-23T01:34:21Z")
Does the Republican nomination process involve superdelegates? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/102 "2016-02-23T03:44:54Z")
> [@irae](#): > > 1. Condition your followers to distrust ‘the media’ via your propaganda arm, Fox News. > 2. Condition your followers to distrust ‘the establishment’ via your militant wing, The Tea Party. > 3. Condition your followers to eschew all human decency via AM-radio talking heads who conflate “PC” with “not acting like a raging dick”. “I didn’t mean you were supposed to distrust OUR media and OUR establishment! I didn’t tell you to be a raging dick to ME! Stop! Back! I am your master! I command you! NOOOOO!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/103 "2016-02-23T12:01:35Z")
What’s the deadline to get on the ballot of 50 states? GOP ought to dump Trump the very next day, thus preventing him from running as an independent either. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/104 "2016-02-23T13:07:00Z")
If Rubio, Cruz, and the establishment were smart (and I’m hoping they are not), they’d have the two Cuban-Americans join forces as a “ticket”. This would involve a pledge from Rubio (either publicly or privately, I can’t decide) to give Cruz not the VP running mate position (although that’s another possibility), but Scalia’s SCOTUS seat, in return for Cruz withdrawing from the presidential race and backing Rubio. Hard to imagine Cruz of all people wouldn’t see that as more desirable than even becoming president, and yet it’s no real sacrifice for Rubio and gets Cruz out of the establishment’s hair. Win-win-win for the GOP, which (again) is why I sure hope it won’t happen. Interesting idea though! ---
**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, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/105 "2016-02-23T13:46:42Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > If Rubio, Cruz, and the establishment were smart (and I’m hoping they are not), they’d have the two Cuban-Americans join forces as a “ticket”. This would involve a pledge from Rubio (either publicly or privately, I can’t decide) to give Cruz not the VP running mate position (although that’s another possibility), but Scalia’s SCOTUS seat, in return for Cruz withdrawing from the presidential race and backing Rubio. Hard to imagine Cruz of all people wouldn’t see that as more desirable than even becoming president, and yet it’s no real sacrifice for Rubio and gets Cruz out of the establishment’s hair. Win-win-win for the GOP, which (again) is why I sure hope it won’t happen. Interesting idea though! Rubio offering Cruz the Supreme Court seat would be great for America. It would give Democrats and Republicans something to unite about. I can’t think of very many people that would have less of a chance of making it through senate confirmations than Ted Cruz. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/106 "2016-02-23T13:49:43Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Rubio offering Cruz the Supreme Court seat would be great for America. It would give Democrats and Republicans something to unite about. I can’t think of very many people that would have less of a chance of making it through senate confirmations than Ted Cruz. The promise of Cruz on the Supreme Court would make it even less likely that the American public would put Rubio in a position to nominate him. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/107 "2016-02-23T14:08:44Z")
Perhaps so (which is why doing it secretly might be their best option), but they have to do something other than splitting the anti-Trump vote. ---
**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 23, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/108 "2016-02-23T14:33:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > What’s the deadline to get on the ballot of 50 states? GOP ought to dump Trump the very next day, thus preventing him from running as an independent either. This election is spawning some ludicrous strategies. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/109 "2016-02-23T14:51:10Z")
Yes, it’s a lot like Ludicrous Mode in a Tesla while steering toward a bridge abutment. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/110 "2016-02-23T14:54:09Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Maybe Kasich hasn’t gone full Brownback, but check out [this](http://www.salon.com/2016/02/10/kasich_is_almost_as_bad_as_trump_dont_let_the_donalds_repulsiveness_distract_from_the_ugliness_dished_out_by_other_candidates/) and [this](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-kasich-planned-parenthood_us_56bba113e4b0c3c5504fe08d). > [@](#): > > As governor of Ohio, Kasich made this racial subtext undeniable in 2014 and 2015, by targeting minority populations for food stamp cuts while letting white people keep getting their food stamps. As Mother Jones explains, the entire state of Ohio was eligible for an emergency extension on food stamp eligibility due to economic distress, but Kasich decided to grant it only to 16 counties in 2014 and 17 in 2015. > “Most of these were rural counties with small and predominantly white populations,” Hannah Levintova of Mother Jones writes. “Urban counties and cities, most of which had high minority populations, did not get waivers.” > … > Kasich’s hostility to women runs so deep he even took a swipe at rape victims, signing a law that would defund any rape crisis center if they are caught telling pregnant rape victims about their legal right to abort a rape-caused pregnancy. > … > Trump wants to ban Muslims from entering this country. Kasich “just” wants to ban Syrian refugees — people who are fleeing a horrific civil war that is being stoked by actual Islamic extremists — from coming in. > … > [He signed a bill that] strips funding from programs that help prevent infant mortality, promote HIV testing and offer breast and cervical cancer screenings. Et cetera. And this guy is the “moderate” Republican. :eek: > [@](#): > > Across the 16 counties the state had selected for waivers, about 94 percent of food stamp recipients were white. Overall in Ohio in December 2013—immediately before the new policy’s effects began to surface—food stamp recipients were 65 percent white. > > By March 2014, six months into the new system, the six counties with the highest rate of terminating food stamps for able-bodied, childless adults were all counties populated mostly by minorities. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/111 "2016-02-23T14:58:57Z")
That’s astonishingly shady. Can’t something like that be taken to court for disparate impact? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/112 "2016-02-23T15:12:00Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > This election is spawning some ludicrous strategies. Sure, but is it legal? ---
**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 23, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/113 "2016-02-23T15:19:58Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Sure, but is it legal? AFAIK, there’s simply no mechanism to do it. The national GOP can’t just order all the States to remove Trump from the Republican ballots. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/114 "2016-02-23T15:29:44Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > AFAIK, there’s simply no mechanism to do it. The national GOP can’t just order all the States to remove Trump from the Republican ballots. But, the RNC can put any candidate on Double Secret Probation. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/115 "2016-02-23T15:40:00Z")
The GOP establishment is pressuring Kasich to drop out now. Rubio is their clear choice for establishment candidate. If they get Kasich out it’s down to a 3 way race with Trump and Cruz splitting the disgruntled vote. This could work out to the advantage of Rubio, and subsequently whoever the Democratic candidate is. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/116 "2016-02-23T20:37:25Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > AFAIK, there’s simply no mechanism to do it. The national GOP can’t just order all the States to remove Trump from the Republican ballots. And Trump already has delegates. And will have more. And will no doubt sue their asses off. Just what the GOP needs on the way to an election. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/117 "2016-02-23T21:28:24Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > And Trump already has delegates. And will have more. And will no doubt sue their asses off. Just what the GOP needs on the way to an election. We’re talking about a party that has got to be thoroughly desensitized to embarrassment by now. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/118 "2016-02-23T22:42:38Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > That’s astonishingly shady. Can’t something like that be taken to court for disparate impact? They could but it’s not really true. Ohio suspended the provisions that required work or work related training to receive SNAP benefits for the entire state back during the great recession. Kasich basically promulgated a system then where counties who, over a “rolling 24 month prior window” had a “lower than average unemployment rate” (I think the actual metric was a 20% lower unemployment rate than the national average i.e. if the national average is 6% then any county with 4.8% or lower) would have the work benefits reinstated. The logic being, if those counties are back on track employment wise, the previous work requirements for SNAP can be reimposed. The three largest cities in Ohio (Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus) are in Harrison, Cuyahoga, and Franklin County respectively, and all three of those counties meet the above criteria. It’s got nothing to do with “disparate impact”, it’s that the poorest, worst parts of Ohio are in the South and East along the borders with Eastern KY and WV (two of the poorest regions in the whole country), these Appalachian counties in Ohio are predominantly white. While people may be assuming a county with lots of blacks would be poor, in Ohio that’s simply not the case. The three major cities in Ohio (particularly Columbus) are all doing better than average. Back when Kasich applied for the waivers for the set of counties, Cuyahoga was around 5%, below the national average. Franklin’s is 3.6%, Hamilton is 3.9% (where Cincinnati is), Montgomery County (where Dayton is) is 4.3%, Lucas County (Toledo) is 4.5. Those are the counties where blacks in Ohio disproportionately live, and all are doing much better than average economically. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/119 "2016-02-23T22:44:49Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The GOP establishment is pressuring Kasich to drop out now. Rubio is their clear choice for establishment candidate. If they get Kasich out it’s down to a 3 way race with Trump and Cruz splitting the disgruntled vote. This could work out to the advantage of Rubio, and subsequently whoever the Democratic candidate is. I’m assuming Kasich is getting a ton of pressure, because if he isn’t out before Super Tuesday the GOP is in a lot of trouble. But he’s already had a long career in Congress, so I doubt he’s got any interest in that (if he did he probably would’ve tried for a Senate seat instead of first going into private industry then becoming Ohio Governor after his long and prominent House term in which he was one of the leaders of the Republicans in the House), and he’s in his second term as Governor. He may still be running a strategy in his mind that can put him in a position to be “the only one left” that the party can pick if a brokered convention is forced or something, and since the Presidency may be the only thing he wants in politics at this point he may feel little reason to concede to the party elders. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812/120 "2016-02-23T22:48:09Z")
Kasich is also starting to say weird things, like he’s on a “mission” and a “crusade” and maybe his ultimate purpose isn’t the Presidency: > [@](#): > > “I’ve gotta tell you, whether I’m president or whether I am not president, OK, I’m carrying out my mission, don’t you think? Doesn’t it sound like I am? And that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do in life,” Kasich told supporters in a candid moment he said was important to get off his chest before taking questions. I’m not sure if that is foreshadowing he’s going to drop out (he hasn’t even campaigned in Nevada, choosing to skip it, so I don’t know that if he drops it’ll be because of a bad performance in Nevada, but he might time it to coincide with that), or if it’s foreshadowing that he’s on a Santorum '12 crusade for the ‘establishment’ and believes he should stay in as a protest. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-will-the-gop-establishment-try-to-kill-the-trump-nomination/745812.md?page=7)