GOP leaders in awkward dance with Trump
The attempted rapprochement now underway between the presidential campaign of Donald Trump and the leadership of the Republican Party is as predictable as it is fraught with risk for both sides — a dance between partners who never will be comfortable with each other.
For Trump, the bridgebuilding represents the challenge of trying to reassure nervous Republican leaders that he can avoid the erratic behavior and divisive rhetoric that have given him the highest negative ratings of any candidate in the 2016 race while reassuring his angry base that he is not selling out to a party establishment that many of them loathe.
For state and national Republican leaders, the outreach highlights the conflict between the revulsion many of them have felt toward a candidate who has trampled on core GOP values and inflamed much of the electorate, and a grudging acceptance that it is increasingly likely the controversial New York billionaire will be leading them into a fall campaign against Hillary Clinton. Rules of order
All of this was on display at the resort hotel along the beaches in Hollywood, Fla., where the Republican National Committee met last week. The meeting was a last full gathering of the party leadership before GOPdel- egates arrive in Cleveland in mid-July for what could be a chaotic and potentially party-splitting convention.
For these few days, everyone was on good behavior. Cleveland could be another story. What took place in Hollywood was a program carefully planned to avoid any clashes on rules or procedures and to send signals of reassurance that all is under con- trol.
Among the few issues up for debate was the question of whether the national convention should be governed, as it long has been, by the rules of the House, which more easily restrict challenges, or be changed to Robert’s Rules of Order, which make it easier for people to snarl the proceedings.
The RNC’s Rules Com- mittee, wired in advance by party leaders, stuck to the status quo with a minimum of fuss. This will be revisited in Cleveland when the convention rules committee meets and when the opposing camps have a greater sense of which approach would benefit them more. There, it could be more difficult for party leaders to control the debate or the outcome. Hope for rivals
In Florida, all was peace and harmony. From RNC Chairman Reince Priebus on down, the message emanating from the public sessions was all about fairness, transparency and even-handedness in Cleveland, amid reminders that the world will be watching every session, every objection and every demonstration. As Priebus said repeatedly, whatever happens there will be the decision of the delegates, not a handful of RNC officials.
Priebus also led a series of harsh attacks on Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, in an effort to leapfrog over the awkward question of just who will or should be the nominee and how that will be decided. The specter of Clinton as president remains the single unifying force in a badly divided party.
Party leaders are necessarily preparing for a contested convention that could include multiple ballots and much discord before a nominee is chosen. Despite his handsome victory in New York last week and the prospect of another good day in the five contests on Tuesday, Trump still is not guaranteed the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, despite his distant, thirdplace showing in the New York primary, is maneuvering to deny Trump a first-ballot victory, hoping Trump’s high water mark will be the number of delegates he gets in that opening round. Cruz then intends to win the nomination on a second or third ballot.
Meanwhile, Ohio Gov. John Kasich clings to the hope that, even if he arrives in Cleveland having won only his home state and trailing by a huge number in the delegate count, practical-minded delegates will turn to him.