And it looks like they’re getting a bump.
The "dump Trump" movement is gaining followers among delegates to next month's Republican National Convention, an effort that could tarnish Donald Trump's coronation even if it ultimately fails.
Several hundred Republican delegates are organizing to oppose Trump at the convention. That's not enough delegates to topple Trump. But it's more than enough to create turmoil at an event that is typically used to bring a political party together in support of a presidential candidate.
What started out as a couple of dozen holdouts has gathered enough steam to sign up a serious number of delegates. Perhaps enough that Trump needs to take this latest coup a little more seriously than Sing-Along-with-Carly.
Unruh said she has the support of at 400 delegates, including some who are alternates. There will be 2,472 delegates at the convention. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination for president.
Trump has 1,542 delegates, including 1,447 who are required by party rules to vote for him on the first ballot at the convention, according to the Associated Press count.
Yeah, but … here’s the thing. What happens if a delegate breaks those rules? Finger shake? Big scowlsies? Ceremonial wedgie from the chairman? There are some delegates from states where the state rules require them to vote as dedicated, and a subset of those even have some defined penalties. But the delegates still get to vote before being punished, and this is the party that likes to think of themselves as being perpetually in the final act of Braveheart. Throwing themselves in front of a charging cheeto might appeal to this crowd.
"If Trump is the nominee, we truly believe it's the end of our party," said Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate who is leading the effort to dump Trump. "We're trying to save the party."
Save them. Don’t save them. Pass the popcorn.
The last few days has seen some Republican office holders semi-signing on to the movement.
First, they snagged the endorsement of former U.S. Sen. Gordon Humphrey, who told POLITICO he’ll work full-time to help encourage New England delegates to rebel against Trump and to connect his allies with mid-level GOP fundraisers who can sustain their push through the convention. Later, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker endorsed one of their preferred methods for stopping Trump: freeing all 2,472 Republican National Convention delegates to vote their conscience, rather than abiding by rules and state laws that bind them to support Trump.
“Delegates are and should be able to vote the way they see fit,” Walker said, according to an Associated Press account.
Still, making Walker’s dream come true would require the rules committee to cut those “doing what the actual voters back in their home states asked them to do” shackles away from burdened delegates. And the rules committee, like the convention in general, is dominated by people with a big gold ‘T’ embossed on their foreheads.
Odds are that the whole thing will be quashed so completely that you’ll never even hear the opposing voices screaming as the Trump machine crushes, crushes, crushes.
After all, the whole dump Trump lump isn’t in the best position.
They’re leaderless, cash-poor and facing an impossibly tight deadline.
Wait a sec. Maybe this fight is more even than it looks.