Donald Trump Sounds Off on Loyalty Pledge
Having already signed one pledge of loyalty to the Republican Party, only to see several of his competitors say they won’t uphold their end of the deal if he wins the GOP presidential nomination, it might be safe to say Donald Trump’s a little tired of hearing about loyalty.
Upon hearing the Virginia Republican Party is now requiring independents, former Democrats, and new voters to pledge their loyalty to the GOP, even if the candidate of their choosing in the primary doesn’t win, he had his fill. So, he did as he normally does in such cases: he vented on Twitter.
“It begins, Republican Party of Virginia, controlled by the RNC, is working hard to disallow independent, unaffiliated and new voters. BAD!” he tweeted out Sunday morning, adding about 15 minutes later, “R.P.Virginia has lost statewide 7 times in a row. Will now not allow desperately needed new voters. Suicidal mistake. RNC MUST ACT NOW!”
In the evening, Trump returned to Twitter to add, “Hopefully the Republican National Committee can straighten out the total mess that is taking place in Virginia’s Republican Party. FAST!”
Such a pledge isn’t necessarily illegal, but it could be a problem for Trump in a key southern state. The Virginia primary is closed to all non-Republican voters, and with the state party disallowing potential voters who won’t pledge loyalty in the 2016 General Election, his campaign is the most likely to suffer as a result.
The Republican National Committee has not responded to Trump’s concerns, but in the past has been generally supportive of loyalty pledges at the state level for voters.
