Conservative activists met privately in Washington on Thursday to plot their opposition to Donald Trump.
This group of social and fiscal conservatives still hopes to block the front-runner from the Republican presidential nomination, despite his lead over Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. In Thursday’s meeting, they discussed how to force a contested convention and stop the New York celebrity businessman from garnering the 1,237 delegates he needs to wrap up the nomination before the primary season concludes in June.
“If Trump’s the Republican nominee, then I’m not Republican anymore,” Erick Erickson, a conservative activist and talk radio host from Georgia, told the Washington Examiner during a brief interview following the meeting.
Erickson, who organized the meeting along with GOP figures Bob Fischer and Bill Wichterman, declined to provide a list of attendees or reveal exactly what was discussed, saying the participants have agreed for now to keep the proceedings off the record. But Erickson, who over the years has been among the most virulent critics of the GOP leadership on Capitol Hill, provided the broad contours of the group’s immediate goals.
Chief among them, the group wants opposition to Trump to unify, possibly in the form of a unity ticket. Erickson was unclear how that might take shape. But individuals who participated in the meeting on Thursday pledged to begin reaching out to the Cruz and Kasich campaigns, as well as other major Republican figures they are connected to, to spur action to halt Trump’s rise.
Among the specific commitments they hope to secure from current candidates and those that have since suspended their campaigns: They want them to promise to keep convention delegates loyal to them from jumping to Trump, in the event of a contested convention. Under Republican National Committee rules, most delegates are bound on the first ballot to the candidate that won the primary or caucus in their state, but are free to support the candidate of their choice on subsequent floor votes. Erickson said that response to the meeting on the right has been gratifying.
“The response from all quarters, other than Trump, has been extremely positive this afternoon,” he said.
Erickson published a statement regarding the meeting on his website, The Resurgent.
Trump leads the race for delegates with 673, followed by Cruz at 411 and Kasich at 143. The next round of voting occurs on March 22 in Arizona and Utah.
