Las Vegas: Donald Trump has railed against efforts by some frustrated Republicans planning a last-ditch effort to try to thwart him from becoming the party’s nominee, threatening at one point to stop fundraising if Republicans don’t rally around him.
Speaking at a theater at the Treasure Island hotel on the Las Vegas strip yesterday, Trump referred to “an insurgent group” trying to deny him delegates at the party’s July convention.
“Now you have a couple of guys that were badly defeated and they’re trying to organize maybe like a little bit of a delegate revolt,” he said. “I thought they already tried that.”
Trump pushed back against such efforts several times during his speech, claiming they were somehow “illegal” and then dismissing them as a media-generated fabrication.
“It’s all made up by the press,” he said. “It’s a hoax, I’m telling you.”
While Trump dismisses the effort as invented, more Republicans in Congress are saying they will not attend the party convention and are not endorsing his candidacy.
Meanwhile, a movement exists among some conservative delegates and operatives to change party rules to allow a different nominee, though it’s a longshot effort lacking sufficient backing and a candidate to offer up at an alternative.
Indeed, Trump wondered aloud who his opponents would pick as a replacement, a problem that has plagued the “Never Trump” movement for months.
“Who are they going to pick? I beat everybody. But I don’t mean beat – I beat the hell out of them,” he said.
At one point in his speech, Trump asserted without offering evidence that former rival Jeb Bush and a second Republican whom he did not name were part of the movement opposing him. Neither Bush nor another former rival, Senator Ted Cruz, has endorsed Trump.
Trump has continued to face resistance from Republicans who have voiced increasing concern over his inflammatory rhetoric. And he appeared increasingly frustrated yesterday, saying, “It would be helpful if the Republicans could help us a little bit.”
The billionaire businessman also threatened that, if Republicans don’t come together, he was prepared to stop fundraising and go back to largely self-funding his campaign.
“I’d love to do it,” said Trump, who has been holding fundraisers across the county this week largely benefiting the Republican National Committee. “You know, life is like a two-way street.”
A Republican National Committee spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PTI
