Never Trump contingent didn't stop the Trump train, but it sure knocked the convention off track

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday July 19, 2016 · 7:48 AM PDT

2016/07/19 · 07:48

CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 18: Sen. Mike Lee, (R-UT) and Phill Wright, Vice Chair of the Utah State Delegation (L) shout no to the adoption of rules without a roll call vote on the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Republican National Convention kicks off on July 18. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) — Mike Lee and Utah delegation, one of the Never Trump Nine

The best drama of the Republican National Convention’s first day didn’t wait for the prime time cameras. Before Melania relived Michelle Obama’s childhood, before Rudy Guiliani sprayed the crowd with froth, before delegates got a Benghazi review approximately 10 times as long as the actual events (and still wrong), before even the duck guy, Never Trump made its play.

On Monday afternoon, after the Republican National Convention officially opened, a series of speeches and pre-recorded videos by popular GOP politicians publicly conveyed a unified front for the GOP. But that lasted a short while. Within hours, a last-ditch effort to defeat Donald Trump exploded into shouting and protests on the convention floor—with the Never Trump movement ultimately failing to block Trump's path to the Republican nomination.

The Never Trump movement had gathered the majority of members in 11 state delegations behind a single idea: A call for a roll call vote to adopt the report of the rules committee. Some of those who signed on were dedicated Never Trumpers who hoped to turn this into a demand at adopting “vote your conscience rules,” while others agreed just on the basis of increasing transparency and demonstrating that the rules belonged to delegates, not backroom leaders. The rules required only seven states to certify such a request to move the vote from a voice vote to a roll call vote, so it seemed as if the Never Trump forces would get at least that much—only that’s not what happened.

First, the morning was spent in a Keystone Cops routine as Never Trump forces searched the floor for the RNC secretary, Susie Hudson, who apparently had gone into hiding. Then a supposed surrogate for the secretary agreed to accept the state petitions from former Sen. Gordon Humphrey. Said surrogate grabbed the papers and whisked them away.

And then, the vote came and … surprise! The chair attempted to call a voice vote, up or down. As if the petitions had never been delivered.

When that happened, the floor erupted.

Delegates from two states, Iowa and Colorado, walked out in protest. The roll-call backers who stayed behind struggled to get Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas, who was overseeing the process, to acknowledge their objections. One Virginia delegate proposed throwing something on stage to get the chair's attention. (He elected not to.) The chants for recognition from the anti-Trump delegates were drowned out by a shouts of "We want Trump!" in the risers behind them.

Womack then vanished. As chaos rolled on, a long behind-the-scenes whipping that had been going on for hours was apparently wrapping up. When Womack returned it was to announce that of the nine petitions originally accepted by the committee, three states had withdrawn their petitions, conveniently putting the Never Trump forces short of the necessary seven. Despite ongoing protests, walkouts, declarations that they had other two state petitions, and general hopping up-and-down, another voice vote was held with a high degree of lickety-spitness, and the Trump forces were (again) declared victorious. Rules report accepted as written. Queue more chaos.

Rival chants of “shame-shame-shame” and “Trump-Trump-Trump” took over the Quicken Loans Arena shortly after 4 p.m. after efforts to vote down the rules for the quadrennial party convention failed. And while party bosses and pro-Trump delegates quashed the delegate rebellion, designed to air a grab bag of grievances and possibly launch a last-ditch effort to deny Trump the nomination, the ensuing pandemonium put a damper on the opening day of a convention that was supposed to showcase a unified Republican party.

Which states were flipped? That’s not clear. Which states of the 11 that the Never Trumpers eventually pulled together were not accepted? Who knows. What was the actual count on any of the states flipped back to the less-than-majority level? Not given.

It was simply rule by fiat, with forces that had scrambled to get at least a democratic vote registered through following the rules simply waved off stage.

So perhaps the best way to think of the first day of the RNC in Cleveland is as a preview of what it would be like if Trump really did take the White House.

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After the chair steamrolled opposition on Monday, former Republican Senator Gordon Humphrey was back with his assessment of what had happened, and it was one that Trump forces probably didn't like.

This isn't a meeting of the Republican National Committee. This is a meeting of Brownshirts. … I mean people who act like fascists.

That was a former Republican senator summing up the actions of the committee leading up to a night that celebrated fear, divisiveness and anger.

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