The first Republican presidential primaries will begin in a little more than two months. In theory and as most voters understand the system, the votes are tallied for each state and the winner of each state receives all the electoral votes. The candidate who receives the largest number of electoral votes will become the nominee of the party and will select their Vice Presidential Running Mate.
The Democrats will nominate and support Hilary Clinton as their candidate although she has a horrible record and could be charged and convicted of a variety of crimes should there be an Attorney General willing to serve the papers.
Republicans have traditionally been more principled and ethical in selecting their candidates. That is not the situation currently, in my view. Many observers believe the current rulers of the Republican Party would prefer Clinton as President to Trump.
The party chairman promised Trump that if he would sign the pledge to support the party candidate that the party would not work against him in the primaries. They have already violated that pledge and funds are being raised to attack Trump in television ads.
In reality the Republican Party, the (RNC), has rules and the rules change. The party rulers can give different values to various delegates or delegations. They can disqualify entire delegations for whatever reason they choose, and they can ultimately decide who will be the candidate.
You may have observed that Jeb Bush publicly and emphatically states that Trump will not be the Republican nominee. John Kasich confidently makes the same declaration. How can they make such statements unless they have a basis for doing so? They may know something that others don’t.
The so-called “Moderate” Republicans that control the national and most of the state Republican Party organizations prefer to work with Democrats than with Conservative Republicans. That is especially true in South Carolina.
The RNC and their political allies will do all that they can to destroy Trump, Fiorina, Carson and other “outsiders” before the primaries. If, however, one of the out-of-favor candidates should have a majority of delegates based on primary votes or a block of delegates that gives them influence in the convention, there will be political maneuvers and manipulation of delegates. They will devise a way to nominate Jeb Bush or John Kasich, or whoever is the favored flavor at that time.
The Republican Party “hacks” are already saying that if Trump is the Republican nominee, the Republicans will lose the election and the party will be destroyed “by Trump.”
Based on the results of the last two presidential elections, if the Republicans nominate a moderate “Democrat lite” candidate, there will be a third party candidate or Conservatives will stay home. In that instance, the Democrats will win and it will be brought on by moderates but blamed on Conservatives. Regardless of the losing scenario, the Republican Party will no longer exist as a viable national party.
Ted Cruz is moving up past Carson and neck and neck with Trump in Iowa. Cruz is a born again Christian and benefiting from Christians becoming aware that Carson, a moral and ethical man, is a lifelong member of a group considered by most Christians to be a religious cult. While not a major issue, it will have about the same impact as Romney being a Mormon had during the last election. Some people would not support him for that reason.