April 20, 2016

Delegate Rules Aren’t ‘Rigged’ Just Because Trump Doesn’t Like Them

In recent weeks, Donald Trump has been bellyaching that the Republican Party’s presidential nominating rules are unfair. “It’s a rigged, disgusting, dirty system,” the front-runner fumes. He argues that “whoever gets the most delegates should win,” and not be bound by the “artificial” and “random” provision of an actual majority. And he lashes out at a “corrupt and crooked” system that empowers party officials and activists to choose those delegates in county and state caucuses. “That’s not the way democracy is supposed to work,” he complains.

In recent weeks, Donald Trump has been bellyaching that the Republican Party’s presidential nominating rules are unfair. “It’s a rigged, disgusting, dirty system,” the front-runner fumes. He argues that “whoever gets the most delegates should win,” and not be bound by the “artificial” and “random” provision of an actual majority. And he lashes out at a “corrupt and crooked” system that empowers party officials and activists to choose those delegates in county and state caucuses. “That’s not the way democracy is supposed to work,” he complains.

Of course, Trump had no objection to “rigged” winner-take-all primary rules in states like South Carolina, Florida, and Arizona, where he nailed 100 percent of the delegates despite getting less than half the votes. Heading into Tuesday’s election in New York, Trump had won just 37 percent of all the votes cast in Republican contests this year, while amassing 48 percent of the delegates. That lopsided tally doesn’t seem to have troubled Trump’s democratic sensibilities.

But what if we take Trump’s newfound critique of undemocratic political rules at face value? Maybe he is sincere when he denounces a system in which outcomes may not mirror the popular will. Maybe he is truly distressed to realize that the GOP’s nominating procedure is “not the way democracy is supposed to work.”

In that case, let’s hope Trump never gets a look at the Constitution.

Far from exalting pure democracy, the founders of the American republic profoundly distrusted it. The Constitution’s first words are “We, the People,” but a wariness of popularity and public passion is embedded in the constitutional framework. The framers took pains to disperse authority among multiple institutions, all of them answering to different classes, groups, and interests. They divided control among different branches of the federal government, while reserving other powers to the states. At every turn, they rejected the idea that winning the most votes settles every question. Thus, the Senate is “rigged” to give the least populous state as much power as the most populous, and it takes only 51 senators — sometimes just 41 — to block legislation that hundreds of members of Congress may support. Supermajorities are required to ratify treaties and override vetoes. And the Constitution cannot be amended without supermajorities in both Congress and the state legislatures.

Trump places great stock in the legitimacy conferred by opinion polls and TV ratings and the size of the crowds at his rallies. The Founders, by contrast, feared the tyranny of majorities, and crafted rules designed to restrain the will of the people — above all when it came to the selection of presidents.

For all the fervor of presidential campaigns, and for all the focus on the popular election in November, it is actually the Electoral College that chooses America’s chief executive. The Constitution grants each state a free hand in choosing its electors, and those electors are not constitutionally bound to vote for the winner of their state’s popular vote. Granted, they almost always do so. But under our system — not a direct democracy, but an indirect democratic republic — the states, not the people, elect the president. The framers wanted a government that could resist populist pressures; the Electoral College is one of many fail-safes they fashioned to protect American liberty from the dangers of popular frenzy.

Similarly, the Republican and Democratic parties have created a presidential nominating process that requires more than winning votes in primaries. Voters get a large but not decisive say in choosing a nominee. Party officials, grass-roots activists, and elected officials share power, too. Convention delegates are not mere rubber-stamps; their role is to elect a nominee around whom their party can rally. That may be the candidate who leads the delegate count when the convention is called to order. Or it may not.

If Trump wants the GOP nomination, he’ll have to play by the rules and earn it. Those rules may be complicated, but they certainly aren’t arbitrary. And the more Trump whines about how “rigged” they are, the more he reveals his own unfitness for office.


Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.