To stop Donald Trump, the Republicans might need a brokered convention, something that hasn’t happened since 1976.
That’s the conclusion in the Boston Herald, according to Frank Cohen, a political scientist at Franklin Pierce University.
“The best chance for the Republican party to not have Trump be the candidate is having these guys now stay in this circular firing squad, let them all pick up delegates and then they can bet on what might happen if there’s a brokered convention,” Cohen said.
A brokered convention occurs when the party finishes its primary season and no candidate has amassed the required number of delegates to secure the nomination. In 1976, the Republican convention chose Gerald Ford over Ronald Reagan.
Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus previously said he doesn’t expect a brokered convention, but Cohen isn’t the first to suggest it’s likely, or that the GOP establishment has no other hope in avoiding a Donald Trump nomination.
If a brokered convention happens, rules could favor party leaders, as they have the power to not count certain delegate votes if state conventions were contested.
“It happened before and it can happen again. Only this time it could be easier since the Republican National Committee has signaled beforehand that the convention secretary and chairman might just be able to settle the matter all on their own,” Donald Devine wrote for The American Conservative.
That would be risky. It’s one thing to have negotiations for switching delegates and finding a consensus candidate. It’s another to disregard delegate votes altogether. For a voter base that harbors anger and disdain for the establishment, doing so could risk the power of the Republican Party. Unfortunately for the anti-Trump establishment, that risk might be the only way to stop Trump, even if it means voters abandoning them in droves.
