CLEVELAND — Donald Trump’s campaign operation isn’t known for its organizational prowess, but they executed a last-minute whip operation that spared the presumptive GOP nominee an embarrassing and time-consuming vote on the first day of the Republican National Convention.
An anti-Trump faction of delegates wanted the convention to be allowed to consider alternative rules for the convention, as a first step toward allowing to vote for president based on their personal preferences rather than vote for the person who won their respective home states. That would have opened the door to delegates spurning Trump and choosing another nominee at the last-minute.
That proposal was officially put to a voice vote that featured Trump’s supporters and opponents shouting “aye” and “no” at each other. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ariz., the presiding chair of the convention, announced that the ayes had won.
The real drama was happening behind the scenes. Eleven state delegations had requested a recorded vote on the proposal; under RNC rules, they needed just seven states. Shortly after the voice vote took place, Womack allowed a Trump critic from Utah to request the recorded vote.
Then Womack lowered the boom on the anti-Trump forces. “The chair has found insufficient support for the request for a record vote,” he announced.
Trump’s campaign team refused to tell the anti-Trump forces which states had changed their votes, which hampered efforts to reunite the coalition. A Trump team source told the Washington Examiner that they flipped Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, and Washington, D.C., by convincing enough delegates from those states to withdraw their names from the petition requesting a recorded vote.
Womack made that announcement after conferring with another man on the convention stage, but Trump’s team wouldn’t say when the states were flipped. “Just happened before it needed to, that’s all,” the source said.
A few minutes later, Womack asked everyone to stand and smile for the official convention photo. The delegates stood for the picture, but even then some of the rebel delegates called for a vote. They were shouted down by Trump’s supporters.
