Friday, September 4, 2015

24 hour Twitter news story: Donald Trump's Republican Loyalty pledge

 One of the best convergence examples between news media and the internet is the Twitter Feed. Over the last 24 hours I was tasked with following a single news story. I chose to follow the coverage around Donald trump's signing of a loyalty pledge to support his fellow Republican candidates, should he lose in the primaries, and not to run as a third part candidate. While this is signed by most traditional candidates, Trump has been quit a controversial candidate due to his past and even more so now.
In recent days, the RNC has circulated a pledge to GOP presidential candidates asking them for their party loyalty and affirm they will not run for president as an independent - a move many see aimed at Trump. The question of whether Trump might launch an independent candidacy has loomed over his campaign. At last month's GOP debate, Trump was the only candidate to raise his hand when asked whether they might not support the eventual nominee or be unwilling to rule out a third party bid. Trump has said he wants to win the White House as a Republican, but has previously declined to pledge to run only as a member of the GOP. A third party candidacy by Trump could sink any chance for a Republican to win the White House against Democrats in 2016. Republican front-runner Donald Trump was expected to rule (and did) rule out a third-party bid for president Thursday, following a meeting with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus in the afternoon. http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/politics/republican-rnc-loyalty-pledge-donald-trump/index.html?Sr=twtsr0902loyaltypledge A source with knowledge of these matters has confirmed to Breitbart News exclusively that RNC Chairman Reince Priebus planned meet with Donald Trump “at Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan thursday afternoon to discuss the ‘loyalty pledge.'” http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2015/09/02/exclusive-rnc-chairman-reince-priebus-to-meet-with-donald-trump-to-discuss-loyalty-pledge/

“I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party,” Donald Trump said on Thursday, holding up a piece of paper with his signature and the wrong date for all of America to see. With that pledge, Trump entered into a formal agreement with the Republican National Committee that he will not run for president as an independent if he doesn’t win the party’s nomination next year.Trump had been threatening to do just that if he wasn’t “treated fairly” by the RNC, and the prospect was a little scary for Republicans. Trump is, after all, polling far ahead of every other GOP candidate. If he dropped out and ran as an independent, he’d surely derail support for the eventual Republican nominee and hand the election to a Democrat. But now the pledge is signed. There’s even a couple with correct dates on them. So that’s the end of that story, right? Wrong.“Pledges like this just don’t mean anything,” said Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics and managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball. “Anyone who thinks that this will someone preclude a Trump third party run is full of themselves.” Trump’s pledge, Kondik explained, is not a legally enforceable contract. The Washington Post described it this way: “It’s like the sort of pledge you get your kids to sign that they will do their homework, make their beds and eat their vegetables before they can play with your iPhone. It’s a statement of intention, but not a binding one.” http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/09/04/3698506/trump-third-party-run/
Beginning, middle, happening, and conclusion/epilogue. Even though he signed the pledge on his terms, it seems unlikely he'll change much. Trump showed again on Friday he will not easily be bound to party orthodoxy, breaking from many of his rival's policy stances on issues from the Iran nuclear deal to the gay marriage fight in Kentucky. http://news.yahoo.com/trump-republican-pledge-breaks-pack-iran-gay-marriage-131002899.html So far, looks like there is very little that can “stump the Trump.”

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