Game Over for Trump

[Pat Mustard]

Hardly surprising. Almost wish this came a little later in the campaign.

Me too. I'm hoping they can't actually replace him at this late a date. I'm thinking you would go through court battles in every state and there just isn't time. The Republicans have nothing to lose at this point though. As one Republican strategist put it, "I think the wheels just fell off."

It's well past the time for any putative replacement to be put on ballots in 36 states by well before today. Therefore if Trump were pushed, his name would still be on the ballot paper, and the RNC would probably have to try and get their voters to put his replacement in as a write in candidate. Nine states prohibit write in candidates, 34 more require that the candidate register as one usually by declaration, with the dates for declaration in some states likely to have already passed.

Also the Republicans own rule 9 (which allows for replacements) over whether Trump could be pushed if he doesn't want to go, so it's probably too late to rules lawyer.

Plus you've the problem of all the campaign ads being already booked, Republican donors likely not wanting to dig into their pockets again and wholesale changes of literature, ground messages and GOTV work means that if the Republicans were willing to change at this stage it would be an unholy mess for them, and probably mean a massive split in the party before the election.