The Empire Strikes Back
RNC rebels hoping to derail Trump are defeated. An Iowa delegate has had enough.
Iowa delegate Cecil Stinemetz left the Republican National Convention Monday afternoon. And it wasn’t to catch a fresh breath of Cleveland air.
“I walked out,” Stinemetz said in a phone interview with The Gazette’s Rod Boshart and your humble columnist Monday afternoon. “Because this is the Trump way. You strong-arm people.”
Stinemetz was among convention delegates who tried to make a motion forcing a roll call vote on rules governing the convention. They hoped for an opportunity to amend the rules so delegates who don’t support Donald Trump would be “unbound” to vote their conscience. It was basically the last stand for anti-Trump activists hoping to derail a speeding, runaway train they believe is headed for an electoral cliff.
They needed motions from seven states to force a roll call. At one point it seemed as if they had as many as 11, then maybe nine. But in the end, three withdrew, leaving just six. Stinemetz and others blamed heavy handed tactics by Trump supporters and party leaders seeking to avoid a vote. In the meantime, as the rebellion was put down, all hell broke loose on TV screens across the nation. Social media exploded with live updates from the circus. Some accurate!
Stinemetz claims Iowa was among states supporting a vote. Republican Party of Iowa officials say that’s not true.
“We voted to pass the rules. We were not part of any other movements and we’re going to continue to work with the nominee to support the nominee. That’s what happened with Iowa,” said Taylor Mason, spokesman for the Republican Party of Iowa.
“Iowa was not part of that at all. Iowa was not part of requesting a roll call vote. That is very inaccurate,” Mason said. He said Stinemetz was the lone delegate to walk out, and would be replaced with an alternate.
Iowa leaders came to Cleveland worried about any move by the delegation that might prompt a move to alter Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Unfortunately, I was not in the convention hall when the rules row got real. As for Stinemetz, he isn’t going back to the convention floor.
When I spoke with him before Cleveland, he was determined to vote his conscience. Now, he finds it unconscionable that he wasn’t allowed to vote on rules.
“That’s the thing that is so infuriating. We could have had a roll call vote,” Stinemetz said. “Yeah, it would have taken a little bit longer than saying ‘yay’ and ‘nay.’ We’re here for four days.
“We might have lost. Fine. But let us vote. That’s all we’re asking,” he said.
How can you argue? Crushing a simple bid for a rules vote looks and smells bad, and it plays directly into the contention that Trump is not only a divisive figure but also an unpredictable threat to democratic norms and institutions. Once the steamroller gets going, where does it stop?
If you can’t win a rules vote, how can you win an election?
Trump supporters were apparently surprised by what happened. I can sort of envision them behind the scenes later, like Ron Burgundy and his news team on “Anchorman.”
“Wow. That escalated quickly,” they may have mused.
But it feels all wrong, slamming the lid on a vote at an massive event intended to underscore the positive power of voting.
Ditto with last week’s RNC rules committee maneuvers, described to me and other reporters at Sunday’s delegate reception by longtime Iowa GOP activist Marlys Popma. Efforts by her and others to reform the primary system were shelved, and a motion actually passed denying future delegates from receiving information on how to contact rules committee members. Popma called it “an atrocity.”
‘The people of this country are angry because the powers that be aren’t listening to the people,” Popma said.
It’s hard to believe, considering how loud Stinemetz and others yelled Monday.
