Veteran political strategist Roger Stone tells Breitbart News executive chairman and SiriusXM host Stephen K. Bannon that even if GOP frontrunner Donald Trump clinches the 1,237 delegates to win the nomination outright, the party will fight like wild to steal it from him by changing the the rules at the convention.
“In a number of states, the Republican chairman is essentially placing non-Trump people into Trump delegate slots,” Stone said on Breitbart News Daily. “Under the party rules, anyone can register to be a delegate. You don’t have to really be ‘a Trump supporter.’ While those delegates would be bound by the results of primaries or caucuses to vote for Trump on the first ballot, they are not bound on procedural matters like the rules.”
“So, the idea is to have a majority against Trump prior to the first ballot, which you could essentially lay the groundwork for the big steal, by passing as they did to Ron Paul three years ago, rules that are detrimental to Trump, or by unseating Trump delegates,” he said. “The rules committee could theoretically say, states that allowed Democrats and independents to vote without changing their registration to Republican — those delegates would be disallowed.”
Stone declared the GOP convention will be an all-out brawl between party insiders and Trump supporters.
“I think it’s going to be a barn burner. I used to think that if Trump got to 1,237 [delegates] that would be the ball game,” Stone said. “By the way, I think that’s still possible, but not definite. He’s got to get 57 percent of the 1,009 delegates still available going forward, of which 217 are in winner-take-all states.”
“I now believe that even if he gets to 1,237, they’re going to play games with the rules and the credentials if they have control of those committees,” he added. “Remember, those committees are made up by two members from each state, selected by the state’s party chairman. So you don’t know, in states where Trump swept the primary, that the party chairman is going to send copacetic people for Trump to the committees. In fact, it is unlikely.”
“You’re not going to know until you get there,” Stone continued. “The rules of the committee, the rules of the convention were only adopted for the previous convention and they expire prior to this convention.”
The rule used to disqualify Ron Paul from the first ballot, Rule 40-B, “will expire, and can either be renewed, replaced, revised, or completely repealed,” Stone said. “On the other hand, you may have new, noxious rules that may be detrimental to Trump. I can think of half a dozen that could be passed. But that’s where the real fight will be. The test vote will be on a rules or credentials matter, and then you’ll know who’s going to win on the first ballot.”
Stone warned earlier on Monday that Trump must beware of “Trojan horse” delegates that will knee-cap Trump by maneuvering to change the rules in the fourth quarter:
These hard-boiled pols know the nomination will be decided not on the first ballot, but in a series of procedural votes by the entire convention to adopt the rules of the convention as recommended by the Rules Committee and the seating of the delegates as recommended by the Credentials Committee. Those key committees are made up by two members from each state. The bosses have been quietly planting establishment regulars in these spots.
The Trump camp has been inattentive to this process. The party kingmakers may have the votes to knee-cap Trump in the rules and credentials committees, as they did Congressman Ron Paul in 2012.
The kingmakers have planned to steal the nod from Donald Trump.
Now they party insiders want to make sure they have a working majority on the floor for the passage of their “license to steal.” Republican state chairs are planting Trojan Horse delegates into slots won by Trump on the first ballot to vote with them on procedural votes to pass the Rules and Credentials Reports that will seal the “Big Steal.” This is going on in Texas, New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Connecticut, North Dakota, and other states.
Though these “Trump” delegates will be bound by national and state rules to support Trump through the first ballot at the convention, they are free to vote against Trump’s interests on the adoption of Rules and the seating of delegates. It’s entirely plausible that a state could seat delegates pledged to support Donald Trump who have open affiliations with other candidates. In California, Cruz and Paulistas are signing up online via CA’s GOP website as Trump delegates.
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Much in the way the RNC stacked the galleries with anti-Trump partisans in the last two debates, anti-Trump quislings are be planted in various delegations that will be free to betray Trump on procedural matters and subsequent ballots.
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