[Hoot Gibson]

Maybe the GOP is about to nominate a real dog of a candidate, but at least its convention should be entertaining. I have a hard time believing that the courts will uphold state laws requiring delegates to vote for a particular candidate at a private convention. A lawsuit has already been filed to overturn Virginia's laws.

It is amazing that Trump may still lack the support to win the nomination if delegates were not forced to vote for him by party rules.

Open primaries should be eliminated in the future. Democrats should not be allowed to select a Democrat to be the nominee of the Republican Party.

Your complete guide to the coming anti-Trump rebellion at the RNC

The battle to control the GOP convention in Cleveland — and the fate of party — has reached a turning point.

While the “Stop Trump” movement has unleashed a barrage of cross-country phone calls and emails to seek support for their proposals, a group of longtime Republican rule makers, some working with the Trump campaign, have quickly coalesced to try and block them.

Those Republican rule makers are also going on offense by proposing what would be relatively historic changes in order to take some power away from convention delegates this year and close more primaries to non-Republicans the next time around.

Free the delegates

There are no rules for the Republican Convention. Not yet.

The rules will be determined the Thursday and Friday before the convention by the 112-member (aptly named) Convention Rules Committee. Traditionally those rules control the convention and govern the next four years for the party.

“Conscience” is the dominant word within the Stop Trump movement.
Enter several anti-Trump GOP groups who broadcast their missions as their names: “Free The Delegates,” “Delegates Revolt,” “Unbind the Delegates” and “Courageous Conservatives.”

They are all pushing to change the convention rules so that delegates may vote as they choose, or vote their conscience, when picking a nominee. “Conscience” is the dominant word within the movement. Within these groups, voting by conscience means that delegates would not have to vote as originally bound by their state.

Political translation: delegates would not have to vote for Trump.

“It’s very organic, very grassroots,” said Regina Thompson, an RNC delegate from Colorado and former state organizer for Ted Cruz. A devoted tea party member, Thompson has found herself going to a convention where, she believes, most of the delegates do not support their nominee. She co-founded Free the Delegates and is now helping coordinate the anti-Trump coalition.

“This is not (about) those who didn’t win,” she said. “This is historic and focused on the fitness of the nominee.”

Thompson is gearing up for the next temperature check for the movement: a conference call Tuesday night. Meantime, she and others keep calling and emailing.

Blocking the rebellion

Solomon Yue says those emails from the Stop Trump movement to delegates are unrelenting — arriving as often as every five minutes. Now, at his direction, everything containing the word “conscience” goes to his junk mail.

Yue, a Republican National Committee member from Oregon and longtime rules expert, is trying to block the revolt by proposing that any changes made by the convention rules committee go into effect only after the convention.

It would be a modern first, but Yue argues it’s necessary. “I want to defend … constitutional principles. The most important one is the rule of law,” he said. “That is the cornerstone of this Republican Party.”

By “rule of law,” Yue means the party’s clearly drawn rules process. It is lengthy. A standing committee meets regularly for years to hash out potential changes to rules. That group essentially recommends the rules to the convention committee, which usually approves with a few revisions.

“If their conscience will not allow them (to vote for Donald Trump), what about those millions and millions of people who did vote?”

But due to smart organizing, Ted Cruz supporters were able to win a significant number of spots on the rules committee this year. Adding to that possible rebellion are a few Kasich and Rubio delegates and a few publicly uncommitted RNC officials who are nervous about Trump.