The Dwindling Viability of Never Trump

From the Wikimedia Commons

Throughout the election cycle, voter hesitancy to support Donald Trump has been widely reported, despite his string of primary victories and relative success. A vocal sect of Republican voters have asserted their intention to never vote for Mr. Trump, although he is the presumptive nominee. Going into the convention, these "Never Trump" voters have been actively organizing to at least make a public show of their disapproval, as unseating Mr. Trump as the nominee will be difficult for a number of reasons.

An article published yesterday by Henry Gomez of cleveland.com explains how the "Never Trump" sect has been struggling to reach a suitable alternative to present at the convention. However, Gomez states that former New Hampshire senator Gordon Humphrey has recently urged Gov. John Kasich to reconsider entering the race at the convention. Gomez concedes that Kasich unseating Trump is a longshot several times, but nonetheless maintains his thesis through support from several sources who do not explicitly rule out a Kasich coup while claiming there are no active plans for such an action. The article seems to paint this as the last chance "Never Trump" has to get an actual nominee on the floor, but that institutional support across the board remains lacking.

Another article on the "Never Trump" movement by Tom LoBianco and Tal Kopan similarly paints the "Never Trump" movement as running on fumes at this point. They simply give "Five things to watch" this week in Cleveland simply to see if "Never Trump" has any sort of shot at the convention. They paint a picture of a party that is deeply fractured as it arrives in town, unable to agree on its platform and attempting to at least present itself as unified.

Both articles leave open the possibility of an unhinged convention, while conceding that is becoming more and more unlikely as the party tries to put unity and order first.

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/07/a_key_ally_is_urging_john_kasi.html#incart_m-rpt-1

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/10/politics/five-things-rnc-convention/