Donald Trump has a “plurality” of the Republican primary vote so far, said the head of the Republican National Committee on Wednesday, as he avoided using the word majority.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer pointed out to chairman Reince Priebus that Trump has called the nomination process “rigged” and in fact leads by over 2 million votes. He asked whether Priebus might be concerned about the prospect of millions of angry Republicans should Trump lose in a floor fight in the Republican convention in July.
Preibus maintained that the nominee needs to have a majority of the delegates, not just a plurality of delegates or primary voters.
“I don’t know what’s so complicated about a majority in the United States of America when our country was founded on the concept of a majority,” Priebus said. “There’s not going to be any bending whatsoever on that rule.”
Blitzer again pressed Priebus on the fact that Trump says he leads by a hefty margin in the vote count, and he is focusing on a majority of the delegates.
“He has a plurality of the votes — of the actual vote count, but you have to have a majority of the delegates and so that’s what the rule is,” Priebus said. “I’m sorry. I can’t change the concept of a majority in the United States of America, nor would I want to.”
