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comment by ghostoffuffle
ghostoffuffle  ·  3173 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Can some explain to me why would anyone vote for Trump?

Dude. That site I provided links directly to the source. There need not be wording anywhere else, and it doesn't have to be reflected in other R writings or sources, because the link is quoting the official rules of the RNC, supplied at the very top of the link. Here.

Note the title of that document. The Rules of the Republican Party. Not The Historical Patterns of the Republican Party, not Pressures to be Applied Through Financial Means of the Republican Party. Rules! And yes, most rules generally must be backed up by coercive measures, such as pressure applied through financial means. But the rule- as laid out by the RNC and currently still in place- is that bound delegates are bound delegates. And should they unbind, there are not only huge penalties, but explicit directions in the rule-book to ignore that inconsistency!

And remember, that quote you just posted from Slate is what happens in the case of a CONTESTED convention. Not uncontested. Contested: bound delegates vote with their bound choice first round, and then in the likely event of a second round, they may unbind. Contested.

Look man, I hope to God this is a contested convention for so many reasons. I think it'd be politics porn for everybody who's into that sort of thing (me, you, NPR, etc), it'd bloody the candidate who made it through, it'd open the window for a third-party Trump situation which would further divide the Republican vote, it'd maybe- maybe lead to some heartfelt soul-searching on the Republican side of the spectrum (just kidding). But don't let's go around telling people that even if it's uncontested, there's nothing to worry about and voting doesn't exist until the generals. It's just not true.





goobster  ·  3172 days ago  ·  link  ·  

.... and then, when the first round of voting finishes, everything we have talked about gets thrown out, and an entire new set of rules comes in. Nobody is bound to anything they did previously.

Sheesh. No wonder our system is so fucked.

b_b  ·  3172 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    .... and then, when the first round of voting finishes, everything we have talked about gets thrown out, and an entire new set of rules comes in. Nobody is bound to anything they did previously.

Not so. Each state part gets to draft their own rules; that is why it's so difficult to know how many delegates each candidate is or will be awarded so far. Some states' delegates would be released after round one, some after round two and so on. However, the candidates themselves have some say in who the delegates are, so many will be voting their conscience (or lack thereof) anyway, so being released might not mean too much. It gets very complicated very fast. It's almost as if they didn't really plan for this to actually ever happen :)

goobster  ·  3172 days ago  ·  link  ·  

AND it differs for each party, as well. The R's have different rules than the D's.

Cue Benny Hill theme music...