Cleveland, Ohio – A long-expected battle to block Donald Trump at the GOP convention died, despite a brief uproar.
Inside Quicken Loans Arena, the convention chairman ruled that the NeverTrump faction did not have enough states to meet the required threshold for debating a motion.
The threshold was seven states, but chairman ruled that the anti-Trump faction did not have support from a majority of the delegates in three of the nine states claimed by the NeverTrump supporters. Without a majority of delegates in three of their nine claimed states, the anti-Trump faction dropped to only majorities of six states — pushing it below the threshold.
The back-and-forth happened as the delegates worked their way through the process of approving the rules for the convention.
The process took two roll-call votes, with the pro-Trump delegates outshouting the anti-Trump delegates amid the roars of approval and disapproval. The process took about 30 minutes.
In between the votes, Trump’s supporters chanted “We want Trump” and “USA! USA.”
The process was managed by Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack. Establishment GOP leaders did not try to push the delegates, or use obscure rules, to help the opposition to Donald Trump, who now faces no obstacle to becoming the GOP’s 2016 presidential nominee.