In August of 2009, tea party activists were instructed by Tea Party Patriots, Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works to go to Congressional Town Halls and confront Democrat Congressmen over support of ObamaCare.
Tea Party Patriots even passed out an “action memo” to be used as a guide for tea party activists attending Congressional Town Halls.
The memo instructed activists to give Congressmen “reality checks” from “We the People” at the town halls. The activists that attended the town halls were there to intimidate Congressmen into changing their position on ObamaCare. Fox News and other conservative media outlets were very supportive of this action at the town halls.
In 2013, Tea Party Patriots led the way in organizing activists to attend Congressional Town Halls and “pressure” Republican Senators and Congressmen about the “Gang of Eight” Immigration Bill. The strategy was very successful in getting elected officials to change their support of the immigration bill.
Roger Stone is planning a similar non-violent event called Stop the Steal that will take place at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland to pressure delegates not to turn their back on the will of the voters. I strongly encourage Trump supporters across the nation to attend the rally and have their voices heard.
I have been astonished at the hypocritical condemnation of this event by the very people that were cheering the tea party on in 2009 when we were confronting Congressional Democrats at their town halls and also, confronting Republicans at town halls to get them to change their stance on the Gang of Eight Bill in 2013.
What Stone is organizing is no different than what activists did at the Congressional Town halls.
The Republican establishment elitists and Ted Cruz are tone deaf to the message sent by millions of Republican Primary voters. Millions would completely walk away from the Republican Party and never look back if the nomination were denied Trump in a contested convention. It would cause massive damage to Republican candidates all the way down the ticket. The Stop the Steal event and other rallies may actually save the Republican Party from committing political suicide by pressuring delegates in a peaceful way not to turn their back on the will of voters.
The Stop the Steal rally may just be preview of coming attractions if Trump is denied the nomination. From what activists are telling me, they are prepared to protest at every campaign stop of the Republican nominee during the general election campaign.
As a tea party founder and one-time devotee of Sen. Cruz, I am extremely disappointed to discover that he has turned into the very thing he used to rail against – elitist establishment that think they know better than average voters. Cruz is in collusion with the Republican establishment and donor class to deprive Trump of the nomination.
Sen. Cruz claims to be a Constitutional Conservative, yet he is systematically working to undermine one of the most important rights granted in the Constitution – the right to vote. His campaign is using the arcane Republican Party delegate selection process to “steal the vote” of the millions that have cast their votes for Donald Trump.
I have witnessed this first hand in Georgia on April 16. Sen. Cruz and his campaign systematically conspired to disenfranchise the 502,000 Georgians that cast their votes for Donald Trump on March 1. They were successful in securing 32 delegate slots out of 42 up for grabs on that day. Two of the Georgia Grassroots Coordinators for Cruz were elected as delegates pledged to Donald Trump. Another Georgia leader for Cruz that is serving as a Trump delegate, former Congressman Bob Barr, took the fifth when he was asked on MSNBC if he would support the nominee that came out of the Republican convention.
It seems Sen. Cruz’s campaign mentality is that the ends justify the means, so it is ok to attempt to overturn the will of voters. I think Sen. Cruz and some of his supporters truly believe that he is a Savior to the conservative movement and that it is ok to do whatever it takes to win. It has been extremely disappointing to see this and in the future they have lost the moral authority to challenge the establishment elitists when they use the same tactics.
Sen. Cruz is extremely delusional in believing that if he is successful in knocking Donald Trump out at a contested Republican Convention, Trump supporters would get behind him. I hope to be elected a Trump delegate at the Georgia GOP State Convention and I will tell you, I would never, under any circumstances, support Sen. Cruz in a contested convention.
Many Trump supporters view Sen. Cruz in a very negative light. I did an informal survey of Trump supporters on social media and asked the following question, “If Trump is far ahead in the GOP delegate count, but Cruz manages to steal the nomination from him at the GOP Convention, would you vote for Cruz over Hillary in the General Election?” 574 Trump supporters responded in the following way:
Yes – 3.42% No – 41.03% Undecided – 5.98% Hell No – 49.57%
I fully expect Donald Trump to have the nomination sewed up by the time of the convention. If not, it will be a very interesting and pivotal time for the Republican Party.
Debbie Dooley is a Tea Party Founder and National Tea Party Leader. Twitter @crimsontider
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.