It was a scene of disgruntled delegates at the Republican National Convention this week when Donald Trump staffers reportedly intimidated delegates who signed a paper demanding a roll call vote into removing their names from the list.
Tommy Valentine, 22, a delegate from Virginia, was among those from “10 or 11 states that had the majority of [their] delegates sign a sheet requesting a roll call vote.” In a video interview with Red Alert Politics Editor Ron Meyer, he described how he went around the floor to other state delegations to make sure that people were not pressured into removing their signatures.
“I personally had two Donald Trump staffers come up and try to intimidate me into taking my signature off the roll call sheet,” Valentine said.
One staffer told him that he would “remember what an embarrassment Virginia was at the national convention and after Donald Trump becomes president, Donald Trump is going to remember what Virginia did and he is going to threaten your tax dollars.”
He described how the Virginia staff were ignored when the convention chairman stood up and asked if anyone wished to be recognized.
“We were begging to be recognized, hollering, shouting,” Valentine said. But the chairman avoided eye contact and said, “Too bad. You only have six states.” Those six states have not been released, according to Valentine.
“It was a total sham. It was a total farce,” Valentine said. “It’s increasingly clear that there’s no point in having these conventions because the RNC makes up the rules as they go along.”
“Why are we asking young people to get involved in the party if they’re not going to listen to us?” Valentine said. “I’m not feeling any party unity right now.”
Christopher Rush, an alternate delegate from Minnesota was equally frustrated by how the delegates have been treated throughout the convention. “The RNC leadership made clear that the delegates’ voices didn’t really matter,” Rush said, holding a sign of protest. “We wanted more conservative rules and to take power away from…the RNC, but they didn’t want that.”
