A Republican delegate and national committee member is pushing to change the party rules in order to ensure Donald Trump’s nomination at the upcoming convention. He claims not to be doing the bidding of Trump or the Republican National Committee. But his effort, if successful, would help both avoid a contentious convention in Cleveland later this month.
Solomon Yue, an Oregon delegate on the convention rules committee, has proposed a rule that would delay the implementation of any decisions made this year by the convention rules committee until the 2020 convention. That includes a conscience clause, an idea gathering support from anti-Trump forces that would let delegates vote against Trump on the first ballot by freeing them from obligations according to their state’s primary results.
In a phone interview, Yue told THE WEEKLY STANDARD Thursday that he has not had contact with the Trump campaign or the leadership of the RNC, and that he does not support Trump, though his proposal would stymie efforts to deny the businessman the presidential nomination.
“I never was a Trump supporter. I was totally neutral,” Yue said. “What I tried to do is do the right thing, regardless Trump campaign, Cruz campaign.”
Still, he praised Trump as a candidate that “took a direct shot at political correctness” and would help bring America back to its founding ideas. “I think he would be good to restore some of the constitutional principles, including free speech and … consent of the governed,” Yue, a self-described constitutionalist, told TWS.
But the Oregon Republican drew the line at vouching for Trump’s character.
“I’m dealing with objectivity. If you think he is a bad person, that’s subjectivity. And you think he is a fascist, he is next Hitler, that’s their personal opinion,” Yue said.
Yue also rejected the notion that he was following orders from the RNC or its leadership. “If you are leader, you don’t ask ‘Mother, may I?’ You do the right thing and you persuade others to follow,” he said.
The RNC did not respond to questions concerning chairman Reince Priebus’s involvement in the proposal.
“The rules for the 2016 convention will be proposed by the delegates serving on the rules committee and then voted on by all of the delegates,” RNC communications director Sean Spicer told TWS in an email Wednesday.
The problem with the conscience clause movement, Yue said, was that delegates are supposed to respect “the will of the people” and “states’ rights,” not their own.
“The conscience people claim, you know, they have to have constitutional rights to free thinking. Fine. Nobody is going to take that away from them,” Yue said. “But so far, I only heard their constitutional rights. When I define constitutional rights … it’s other people’s constitutional rights. I’m not talking about mine. And respect will of the voters. I’m not talking about mine. I’m talking about others.”
He characterized the argument for the conscience clause as dishonest and argued that delegates gave up their conscience when they decided to run for their position.
“Freedom of conscience—are they running for state delegate as Trump supporter? If they do, then you already surrender your conscience,” he told TWS. “What do you call the people misrepresent themselves, claim they are Trump delegates, and run as Trump delegates, got elected, want to be free? … I have [a] problem with that … Honesty is one of the principles for self-govern[ance].”
Yue claims the response to his proposal, which he circulated yesterday to 56 standing rules committee members, has so far been positive.
“The people liked it, and people want me to call them and tell them why I proposed this,” Yue told TWS. “They are very satisfied.”
The actual quantity of responses, however, seemed underwhelming.
“Three people contacted me,” Yue said.
Still, Yue remained optimistic, telling TWS that he was “betting” that the majority of delegates would agree with his rule.
“I have not heard anyone come out, oppose my proposal yet,” Yue told TWS. “You know, this is a process.”
