Donald Trump raised eyebrows the other evening when he said he will no longer be upholding the GOP loyalty pledge, which he signed earlier this year:
Now a potential consequence is going public.
The state of South Carolina, which has yet to have its state convention, could potentially “unbind” Trump’s 50 delegates, which he won when he swept the state in February.
TIME magazine’s Zeke Miller reported on Thursday:
| The Palmetto State was one of several that required candidates to pledge their loyalty to the party’s eventual nominee in order to secure a slot on the primary ballot. Though Trump won all of the state’s delegates in the Feb. 20 primary, anti-Trump forces are plotting to contest their binding to Trump because of his threat on the pledge Tuesday. The loyalty pledge is nothing new in South Carolina, where it has been required for decades… |
Matt Moore, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, said:
| “Breaking South Carolina’s presidential primary ballot pledge raises some unanswered legal questions that no one person can answer,” he told TIME. “However, a court or national convention Committee on Contests could resolve them. It could put delegates in jeopardy.” |
But on Twitter, Moore added:
| Regarding delegate questions today: to be clear, no one is seeking to unbind ANY of South Carolina's national delegates. — Matt Moore (@MattMooreSC) March 31, 2016 |
South Carolina holds its state convention in April, and if it proceeds to strip Trump’s delegates, it would surely spark uproar among the candidate’s supporters, in addition to being the latest example of the Trump campaign fumbling delegates he should have won:
