Trump predicts riots if denied Republican presidential nomination

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Steve Holland


http://i.imgur.com/0T1zykC.jpg

PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - U.S. Republican front-runner Donald Trump warned on Wednesday of riots if he is denied the party's presidential nomination after

a string of primary election victories, raising the temperature even further in a highly charged White House race.

The New York billionaire scored big wins in primaries in Florida, Illinois and North Carolina on Tuesday which brought him closer to the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the nomination.

But he lost the crucial state of Ohio and left the door open for those in the party trying to stop Trump from becoming the Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 election.

Trump might fall short of the majority required, enabling the party establishment to put forward another name at the July convention in Cleveland to formally pick its candidate.

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Trump said if he got a large number of delegates yet was denied the nomination: "I don't think you can say that we don't get it automatically. I think you'd have riots. I think you'd have riots. I'm representing many, many millions of people."

Party leaders are appalled at the real estate developer and reality TV personality's incendiary rhetoric and believe his policy positions are out of step with core Republican sentiment, such as his vow to deport 11 million illegal immigrants, temporarily ban Muslims from the United States and build a wall along the border with Mexico.

Trump told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show on Wednesday that he mostly consults himself on foreign policy issues. "I'm speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain," he said. "I know what I'm doing ... my primary consultant is myself, and I have a good instinct for this stuff."

He also told Fox News he would not attend the next televised Republican presidential debate, scheduled for March 21. "I think we've had enough debates," Trump said.

The Republican establishment's bid to stop him may have come too late as a field of candidates that once included Trump and 16 high-profile party figures has dwindled to only three with Trump, 69, in command ahead of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, 45, and Ohio Governor John Kasich, 63, who won the Ohio Republican primary on Tuesday.

While the Republican race remained in turmoil, Hillary Clinton won victories in Florida, Illinois, Ohio and North Carolina on Tuesday that cast doubt on U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders' ability to overtake her for the Democratic Party's nomination.

Trump's landslide victory in Florida knocked rival Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senator from that state and a foreign policy hawk, out of the White House race.

Trump's closest challenger is Cruz, a Texan and favorite of the conservative Tea Party, who is second to Trump in delegates but has struggled in states where conservative evangelical voters, among Cruz's biggest supporters, are not dominant.

Kasich is the last establishment Republican candidate standing. Asked whether he would work with Cruz to block Trump's path to nomination, he told NBC's "Today" show:

"I'm out there running to be president. I'm not out to stop Donald Trump or stop anybody else. By winning yesterday in Ohio, I've dealt him a very, very big blow to being able to have the number of delegates."

Early on Wednesday, MSNBC projected Trump and Clinton would win Missouri in very tight races. With 100 percent of the votes counted, Clinton led Sanders by about 1,500 votes and Trump led Cruz by about 1,600 votes.

It would not be the first time Trump skipped a debate if he follows through on his plan. He also sat out the Fox News/Google debate on Jan. 28, after complaining of unfair treatment in a previous Fox debate.

[lost in melb.]

Trump.... mostly consults himself on foreign policy issues. "I'm speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain," he said. "I know what I'm doing ... my primary consultant is myself, and I have a good instinct for this stuff."

:-k

[RBP]

We're going to have riots regardless.

[redred]

he's almost asking for riots isn't he ?

[lost in melb.]

We're going to have riots regardless.

the weird thing is you can't pin down a trump supporter as a racist, mysoginist ect. it's more complex

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/03/secret-donald-trump-voters-speak-out

[lost in melb.]

sums it up
A 29-year-old female data processor wrote: “As horrific as Donald Trump is, and he is a horrible, racist, misogynist idiot, I don’t think Hillary Clinton is any better. I feel like with Trump, he could at least inspire a revolution, even if it is against him. I prefer chaos to stagnation.”

[RBP]

he's almost asking for riots isn't he ?

And the liberals are promising it from their side.

[RBP]

Political parties, not voters, choose their presidential nominees, a Republican convention rules member told CNBC, a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump rolled up more big primary victories.

"The media has created the perception that the voters choose the nomination. That's the conflict here," Curly Haugland, an unbound GOP delegate from North Dakota, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday. He even questioned why primaries and caucuses are held.

Haugland is one of 112 Republican delegates who are not required to cast their support for any one candidate because their states and territories don't hold primaries or caucuses.

Even with Trump's huge projected delegate haul in four state primaries Tuesday, the odds are increasing the billionaire businessman may not ultimately get the 1,237 delegates needed to claim the GOP nomination before the convention.

This could lead to a brokered convention, in which unbound delegates, like Haugland, could play a significant swing role on the first ballot to choose a nominee.

Most delegates bound by their state's primary or caucus results are only committed on the first ballot. If subsequent ballots are needed, virtually all of the delegates can vote any way they want, said Gary Emineth, another unbound delegate from North Dakota.

"It could introduce Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, or it could be the other candidates that have already been in the race and are now out of the race [such as] Mike Huckabee [or] Rick Santorum. All those people could eventually become candidates on the floor," Emineth said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, who decided not to run for the White House this year, said in a CNBC interview Tuesday he won't categorically rule out accepting the GOP nomination if a deadlocked convention were to turn to him. But on Wednesday, a Ryan spokeswoman said the speaker would not accept a Republican nomination for president at a divided convention.

Democrats experienced the last true brokered presidential convention to go beyond the first ballot in 1952. Republicans came close at their 1976 convention.

"The rules haven't kept up," Haugland said. "The rules are still designed to have a political party choose its nominee at a convention. That's just the way it is. I can't help it. Don't hate me because I love the rules."

Haugland said he sent a letter to each campaign alerting them to a rule change he's proposing, which would allow any candidate who earns at least one delegate during the nominating process to submit his or her name to be nominated at this summer's convention.

If the GOP race continues at the same pace, Trump would likely have a plurality of delegates. So far, he's more than halfway to the 1,237 magic number.

Trump split Tuesday's winner-take-all primaries in Florida and Ohio.

The real estate mogul dominated in Florida over Sen. Marco Rubio, who dropped out of the race after losing his home state.

But Trump lost Ohio to the state's governor, John Kasich. Trump also won Illinois and North Carolina. He held a slim lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Missouri early Wednesday.

Emineth, also a former chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party, told "Squawk Box" in the same interview that he's concerned about party officials pulling "some shenanigan."

"You have groups of people who are going to try to take over the rules committee," he warned. "[That] could totally change everything, and mess things up with the delegates. And people across the country will be very frustrated."

"It's important that the Republican National Committee has transparency on what they're doing [on the rules] going into the convention and what happens in the convention," he continued. That's because of "all the votes that have been cast in caucuses and primaries. Don't disenfranchise those voters. Because at the end of the day, our goal is to beat Hillary Clinton or whoever their [Democratic] nominee is in November."

Emineth said he's worried that frustration would discourage Americans in the general election from voting Republican.

[DemonGeminiX]

The political party system in this country needs to be reformed.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Its being reformed as we speak, 60% of the (R) in office are up for reelection, we need to start voting these life long politicians out and get some fresh blood up in this bitch

[RBP]

I am also leaning towards a throw them all out ballot.