CLEVELAND — Anti-Trump forces say they have gathered enough signatures to force a roll call vote on the Republican convention’s rules package, hoping for a late groundswell of support to show the depths of antipathy toward Donald Trump becoming their nominee.
Kendal Unruh, a delegate from Colorado, said Monday the group has gotten signatures from the required number of states. An email went out to supporters urging them to get to the convention hall to take part in a vote.
Backers said if they can defeat the rules, it could unbind delegates from their commitment to have to vote for Mr. Trump.
“Successfully voting down this rules package is the last best hope of freeing the delegates — but it also avoids an unprecedented power grab by the GOP,” the anti-Trump forces said in an email to their supporters.
Ms. Unruh said Mr. Trump has joined forces with party leaders to try to deny the insurgents their voice — a move they said was hypocritical since Mr. Trump ran on a platform of listening to grass-roots voters.
“The broader message is he is a fraud that we have been convinced that he was all along,” she said Monday.
Others, though, said the push back against Mr. Trump ran out of momentum long ago.
“This is sort of like the last ragtag remnant of the Japanese army who were found on the island of Saipan three years after the war was over because they had not heard the war was over,” said Bruce Ash, a delegate from Arizona. “The war is over. Donald Trump is our presumptive nominee, he will be named our nominee and he will win in November irrespective of a few people who have bruised egos and sore ribs from the contests that we’ve had over the past several months.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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