OPINION:
Donald Trump’s campaign seems to know if they don’t get the 1,237 delegates needed to win the first round of voting at the Republican National Convention, the business-mogul will walk away from Cleveland empty-handed.
“The only game I’m focusing on right now is getting delegates,” said Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s newly-hired delegate wrangler, on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “And the games that have happened, even this past weekend, you know, are not important to the long-term game of how do we get to 1,237.”
Mr. Trump lost all 34 of Colorado’s delegates to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over the weekend, in which the state Republican Party didn’t hold an election, but voted for their nominee through a convention. Mr. Trump, publicly, has been crying foul at the process, but internally, it seems he’s gearing up to learn the rules of the game.
Mr. Trump has beefed up his campaign team, with the hiring of Mr. Manafort — a veteran of conventions for former Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Mr. Manafort’s team will include several aides from the presidential campaigns of Ford and Reagan and a few operatives who have worked for former Rep. Ron Paul, who has been known for his convention organizing, The New York Times reported.
“The nomination process has reached a point that requires someone familiar with the complexities involved in the final stages,” Mr. Trump said in a statement announcing Mr. Manafort’s hiring and adding that the move would allow the rest of his team to focus on upcoming races and the general election.
There’s growing anxiety within the Trump campaign that if Mr. Trump doesn’t walk into the convention with the delegates he needs to secure the nomination, Mr. Cruz will try to amass the votes to win on the second ballot, and if that doesn’t happen, Republican operatives may look to a white horse nominee with Wisconsin Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s name being batted around.
“Listening to @realdonaldtrump’s delegate hunter this morning, it seems clear they understand that the 1st ballot is the ballgame for Trump,” Democratic strategist David Axelrod tweeted on Sunday after Mr. Manafort’s interview.
Mr. Trump’s supporters, staff and volunteers seem to agree.
“Today is a new day and we must seize it for Trump,” tweeted Ed Wortham, a Trump supporter and volunteer in California. “We must win on the 1st ballot (1,237) or face the reality that Cruz gets the 2nd ballot.
Very soon, we’ll all have to make a decision if we are going to dump the Republican Party if they take the nom from Trump on the 2nd ballot,” he said.
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