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Delegates can save party

In March, it looked entirely possible that none of the Republican presidential candidates would arrive at the July convention with the nomination in hand. A contested convention loomed, and Donald Trump’s team knew it could be a fierce fight.

Referring to the delegates, his adviser Barry Bennett said, “By majority rule, they can do anything that they want. They can throw out the chairman. You can throw out the [Republican National Committee] members. You can do anything.”

Hear that, Republican delegates? And will you heed it?

The GOP has never nominated someone so plainly unprepared, unreliable and unfit. Most party figures act as though they have no choice. But they do. A group of delegates is organizing an effort called “Free the Delegates.” They propose to change party rules to let them vote for whomever they wantregardless of how their states’ caucuses and primaries turned out—and they claim already to have enlisted several hundred delegates and alternates.

On what grounds could the delegates deny the nomination to the person who defeated every other candidate? First, they could point out that he is fundamentally at odds with many of the party’s bedrock policies—including those on such vital topics as national security, trade, entitlement reform, fiscal responsibility and religious freedom. They could note that he has never shown a fidelity to any set of political principles, especially conservative ones. They could highlight his volatile temperament and shaky grasp of policy.

He has also been inept and irresponsible in his approach to the general election. He starts with a disadvantage. Writing for the conservative National Review, Dan McLaughlin notes that Trump’s polling numbers are “at a lower ebb than any general election candidate has hit in the last three elections.”

Nor has he done other things he needs to do in service to the party’s cause. Lacking much interest in raising money, which he hardly needed in the primaries, the billionaire could be vastly outspent. He entered June with just $1.3 million in the bank, according to the New York Times—compared to Clinton’s $41 million. She can also expect a mobilization of support from Democrats running for other offices, as well as state and local party organizations and traditional Democratic interest groups. Trump, by contrast, has done his best to alienate and demoralize Republican officeholders. His behavior has encouraged state parties to concentrate their resources on races down the ballot.

Trump’s campaign is a disaster waiting to happen—unless the party uses the Cleveland convention to avert it. Republican delegates can resign themselves to go down on a sinking ship. Or they can mount a mutiny to install a captain who has the judgment, experience and skills needed to guide the vessel safely home.

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