While dreams of a contested Republican convention dance in the heads of all Democrats, along with a good chunk of the Republican establishment, Donald Trump says it won’t happen … but that doesn’t mean his campaign is taking the threat lying down:
While Trump publicly dismisses talk of a battle in Cleveland, he is quietly assembling a team of seasoned operatives to manage a contested convention.
Team Trump has a two phase strategy, with Phase One being to pick off enough un-pledged delegates between the final Republican primary and the convention, locking down the 1,237 necessary delegates to win on the first ballot.
Phase Two is a bit more tricky and rather hilarious. This would be where the Trump campaign works to “prevent attrition” on ensuing ballots via, apparently, “The Art of the Deal,” according to a Trump advisor:
"… that's when the negotiations start."
"It's everything from, 'Come campaign in our state,' or 'Do a fundraiser for a state party,' or 'Put stronger language about right to life in the platform,'" he said. "Or all kinds of crazy things that are important to whoever the delegate is."
Leaving aside the Trump campaign admitting that they’ve either never read the Republican Party Platform or they think “right to life” language is a “crazy thing,” isn’t this the candidate whose whole schtick is—well, besides fear and hate mongering—that Donald Trump is beholden to no one but Donald Trump? Guess that goes out the window when push comes to shove.