Yesterday’s convention floor chaos may have seemed like the Twilight of the Never Trumps, but if you loose enough monkeys in a mechanism that is run by complex parliamentary rules, a few of them are bound to keep finding wrenches.
After their revolt was crushed at the Republican National Convention on Monday, Never Trump delegates are planning one final push to deny Donald Trump the nomination on Tuesday in Cleveland. There's little likelihood of success—and the effort may be nothing more than symbolic—but it appears the movement will go down swinging.
The vote takes place Tuesday evening—the vote vote, as in each state being called for a count of the delegates, leading to piling up enough for someone to scream forth “Donald, the first of his name!” And while it’s unlikely that at this point enough delegates will lay their necks on the line to prevent Trump from ascending to the throne, the Never Trump forces still hope to make it as messy as possible.
During the roll call of the states, the head of each delegation will declare his or her states' vote breakdown. But delegates who are bound under convention rules to vote for Trump—but who personally oppose him—plan to register their dissent at this time using a specific parliamentary procedure.
What’s even better: there are magic words! Magic words that we do not know.
"There's a process that you use," Unruh explained. "You have to actually directly challenge at the microphone to the chairman and say a specific phrase or they are going to call it out of order." She declined to state the phrase, citing strategic reasons.
Is it “Open Sesame?” Is it “Swordfish?” Is it “Joshua?” Is it “The watched pot never barks at the subtle fox?” Or is it “Radical Islamic Extremists?” (Hint: it’s always “Radical Islamic Extremists.”)
Never Trump leader Kendall Unruh has indicated that she’s going to be reading Fall of the Roman Empire. Is that a clue? There do seem to be some neat parallels with the RNC.
“The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover some nice difference in age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction.”
― Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
This could be the one thing that makes Donald Trump’s coronation countdown worth watching.