Niagara Falls
THE
NIAGARA FALLS REPORTER
LOCAL NEWS  •  LOCAL VOICES  •  LOCAL MATTERS

WILL THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT STEAL THE 2016 NOMINATION FROM TRUMP?

N
Niagara Falls Reporter Staff  ·  January 27, 2016
SharefXin
By Roger Stone

Will the GOP establishment steal the 2016 nomination from Donald Trump even if the magnate arrives in Cleveland with the most pledged delegates but short of the 50 percent he’d need to be nominated?

Is a back-room deal in the works to have a “brokered convention” to deny Trump the GOP nod? I think there is such a plan and it must be exposed.

Donald Trump is our last hope to make Washington work for us – not the lobbyists, special interests and billionaire donors who control the corroded two-party system. As Trump says: “America is going to hell!”

I am a veteran of nine national Republican presidential campaigns, including the floor of the 1976 Republican National Convention for Ronald Reagan. My sources inside the Republican party are warning me:

The insiders have a stunning plan to stop Trump even if he wins the primaries.

The plan involves stalling Trump short of a majority on the first ballot, since many of the delegates pledged to him would no longer be legally bound to support him on subsequent ballots. There are many, many Trojan Horse delegates inserted by the GOP establishment who could bolt from Trump after that first ballot.

Remember, up until March 14 all primaries have proportional delegate allocation.

Ted Cruz , Chris Christie, Marco Rubio , Jeb Bush and the rest will be winning delegates, too.

There are 278 Super Delegates who are GOP establishment insiders, likely opposed to Trump. They constitute 4 percent of the convention. Thus, Trump must win 54 percent of delegates elected in caucuses and primaries to guarantee he could block a plot to stop him.

To make it worse, Convention Rule 40 B says the Candidate must have a majority of delegates in at least eight states. The Romney people passed this rule in 2012 when they had control of the party. It hurts Donald Trump.

By hanging in the race long after they have any chance of being nominated, sustained by Super PAC money, Trump’s opponents can drain votes and could perhaps stop Trump from gaining a majority in any state – even while he is winning a plurality. Bush, Christie, Rubio and Kasich, I’m told, are in on this plan. Many GOP insiders calling it the “BIG STEAL.”

For example, Trump could win every primary, but the Bush-Rubio-Christie-Kasich-McConnell-Ryan-wing of the GOP could block Trump and seize the nomination for an establishment alternative. Rule 40B could block Trump from the nomination, bypass Cruz and pave the way for a backroom BIG STEAL deal that nominates, say, a Rubio-Kasich ticket.

Many party moderates and GOP congressional establishment types would rather have Hillary Clinton, who they can wheel and deal with, then Trump, who vows to drain their swamp.

The Trump candidacy is a citizen insurrection, an authentic uprising. We want to make America Great Again! The Washington consultant and lobbyist class are scared to death because Trump cannot not be bought. Trump is his own man and he will bring radical reform to government.

The BIG STEAL has already begun. Even today, a Super PAC supporting John Kasich is spending $2.5 million on harsh negative ads attacking Donald Trump. Jeb Bush and his billionaires have spent an estimated $16 million attacking Trump on TV. Chris Christie attacked Trump this week, calling Trump a “carnival barker.” All of this is part of the BIG STEAL plan to stall Trump short of a majority of delegates and force a brokered convention.

We must demand the Super-Delegates vote for the winner of the primaries, not some “STOP TRUMP” candidate like Rubio or Bush. The Trump forces can repeal Rule 40 B, clearing the way for a Trump nomination by a simple majority – with 51 percent.

If Trump is robbed at the Republican National Convention, millions of American tired of the two-party insiders and the Washington insiders will not vote Republican. Millions of working class Democrats won’t vote Republican. Hillary Clinton will win.

But maybe that’s what some in the Republican Establishment want.

 

SharefXin

Comments (0)

Leave a comment

More From Niagara Falls Reporter

Craig Bucki Stands Out in Race for Supreme Court, Has All the Tools to Be Strong Judge
Featured

Craig Bucki Stands Out in Race for Supreme Court, Has All the Tools to Be Strong Judge

By tony Farina · September 16, 2026

By Tony Farina I’ve covered many court proceedings and trials in my more than 35 years as a newspaper and television reporter and I want to make the point at the beginning of this story that whether elected or appointed, some judges are fair and honest and many others fall short of the mark. In other words, the word jurist does not convey skill and knowledge of the law; it is just a role that some serve with distinction, and others do not. By definition, a jurist is a person who has expert or thorough knowledge of the law but

Is Niagara Falls Crisis Self-Inflicted? Lots of Questions, Few Answers
Featured

Is Niagara Falls Crisis Self-Inflicted? Lots of Questions, Few Answers

By tony Farina · September 15, 2026

By Tony Farina There are certainly many questions swirling around the mayor’s declaration of a state of emergency in Niagara Falls over trash, blight, and deteriorating streets that was declared back on July 20 and has been extended several times since because, according to Mayor Robert Restaino, the City Council refused to approve contractor agreements. But some observers point to depleted staff at City Hall, like in Public Works and Code Enforcement and other departments, as really self-inflicted wounds that are the underlying reasons work is not getting done in the city. Or is there even more to the story,

NIAGARA FALLS BUILT THE MODERN WORLD ON ITS POWER. IT CAN DO IT AGAIN.
Featured

NIAGARA FALLS BUILT THE MODERN WORLD ON ITS POWER. IT CAN DO IT AGAIN.

By Niagara Reporter- · September 11, 2026

The  Data Center That Answers Hochul’s Objections There was a time when Niagara Falls did not ask Albany whether it was permitted to prosper. The river was here. That was enough. The town had something Albany couldn’t give it. It used what was here. Water. Power. Work. Jobs. Industry. A future. In 1895, the Adams plant took the river and put it into wire. The current went to Buffalo. It changed the industrial world. Tesla supplied the designs. Westinghouse built the machines. Niagara supplied the falling water. Then industries came. Electrochemical. Electrometallurgical. They came because Niagara offered abundant, inexpensive electricity.

Niagara Falls Has Millions of Tourists But Needs to Find a Way to Capture That Wealth
Featured

Niagara Falls Has Millions of Tourists But Needs to Find a Way to Capture That Wealth

By tony Farina · September 8, 2026

By Tony Farina The City of Niagara Falls, N.Y., boasts one of the world’s greatest natural wonders that people from around the world come to see, but despite incredible tourism numbers of more than nine million visitors a year, the city of now less than 50,000 people is still pretty darn poor. Niagara Falls does not have a tourism problem; it has a tourism-capture problem, and the distinction should be a starting point for a serious new discussion about the city’s future. And ladies and gentlemen, that discussion needs to start now. The question is no longer whether Niagara Falls