Failing to sabotage the outsider campaign of 69-year-old real estate tycoon and former reality TV star Donald Trump, 43-year-old RNC chairman Reince Priebus met behind closed doors Dec. 10 to consider his next move. While no one’s voted yet, Priebus has begun to sweat that Trump could pull off the unprecedented feat of beating all RNC-backed candidates. Responding the RNC’s closed-door meeting, GOP’s second-running 2016 candidate retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson threatened to bolt the Party and run as an independent. “The Party should not be doing anything that is deceptive and under the covers,” Carson told reporters in Burlington, Iowa. Pressured to sign a pledge after the first Fox News debate Aug. 6 to accept the Party’s nominee and not run as an independent, Carson sees Priebus as dealing from the bottom of the deck. Priebus hasn’t figured out what to do.
Carson, who like Trump runs an insurgent or outsider campaign, expressed concern about the RNC making a mockery of the nominating process. If form holds, one of the 15 remaining nominees will collect enough committed delegates to win’s the GOP’s nomination without a floor-fight at the convention. Jumping the gun, Priebus downplayed the meeting saying very little time was spent on contingency planning for a brokered convention Letting GOP voters pick their favorite candidates without RNC help satisfies outsiders like Trump and Carson already distrusting the Party. National and statewide polls don’t tell the whole story until voters get serious and start voting. GOP insiders have practically stood on their heads to sabotage Trump’s campaign, believing he’s bad for GOP. Trump’s insisted that, whatever the GOP thinks, he’s got the best shot of beating Hillary in 2016.
Between now and the Iowa caucus Feb. 1 a lot can happen, despite Trump consistently leading the GOP pack since late July. GOP Party officials haven’t given Trump the credit for attracting the most interest and biggest crowds on the campaign trail. Trump’s controversial remarks about the Mexican border and now Muslim immigration and travel to the U.S. don’t seem to change his front-runner status. His followers seem deeply suspicious of the media and the Party establishment, more focused on national security after the Nov. 13 Paris terror attacks and Dec. 2 San Bernardino massacre. Party officials and mainstream media have tried relentlessly to discredit Trump before CNN’s Dec. 15 debate in Las Vegas. With Carson already fading, Priebus hopes the GOP pack piles on Trump, denting his front-runner status before year’s end. Piling on Trump before has mostly backfired.
Instead of talking about “brokered conventions,” Priebus would be better off talking with his RNC fraternity about the best candidate—and strategy—for defeating almost certain Democratic nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Party officials don’t see that Trump matches up better against Hillary than the long list of GOP hopefuls. RNC officials look like they’re actively promoting Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) whose Dec. 5 call to “carpet bomb” the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] raised eyebrows. Cruz has earned a reputation as one of the GOP’s most divisive figures, playing a key role the Oct. 1-16, 2013 government shutdown, tossing 800,000 federal workers out of their jobs. Cruz practically threw a tantrum on the Senate floor Sept. 29, 2015 when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sidestepped his attempt at another government shutdown.
Priebus hasn’t come to grips with the GOP’s real goal in 2016: Taking back the White House. Of all the GOP candidates, Trump has the biggest appeal to independents and crossover Democrats, the so-called Reagan Democrats. Cruz and other GOP candidates, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.), have little appeal to Democrats and independents. Priebus hasn’t yet figured it out that if either Trump or Carson bolt the Party, Hillary becomes president. Trump and Carson’s supporters show the kind of loyalty that would pull so many votes from the GOP, it would far exceeds the 1992 election where H.Ross Perot siphoned off 19% of the GOP vote, keeping former President George H.W. Bush’s from second term, handing the election to former President Bill Clinton. Priebus should mind his “ps-and- qs” about “brokered conventions” or face certain defeat Nov. 4, 2016.
Instead of worrying about Trump’s success and planning for a convention fight, Priebus should let things play out wherever that takes the GOP. If GOP’s primary voters coalesce behind Trump, then the RNC should celebrate the fact they have a dynamic candidate—whatever his flaws—capable of putting excitement back into the Republican Party. No one can accuse Trump of banality, drawing the biggest crowds and most media attention of all remaining GOP candidates. Trump’s media appeal stems his refreshing extemporaneous speaking style, mesmerizing audiences without the ubiquitous teleprompter. Treating outsiders like Trump and Carson fairly should be the RNC’s top priority. If the powerful try to manipulate it, the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next summer may be the last convention,” said Carson, warning Priebus about possible consequences.
