Donald Trump has hit upon a new talking point as he barnstorms his way across his home state of New York: Namely, that the RNC, Reince Priebus, and the mysterious all powerful “Establishment” are rigging the electoral process against him in the hope of dashing his all-but-assured nomination.
But as with most things Trump, a closer look at the primary numbers show that his blustery doesn’t hold up.
To date, Donald Trump has taken 756 delegates from the primaries and caucuses — around 45 percent of the total allocated thus far. But according to NBC News, which ran the numbers, Trump has received only about 37 percent of the total primary vote.
Putting it as plainly, Trump thus has a larger share of delegates than he does percentage of the vote. He is not yet “the people’s choice,” and, far from frustrating the popular will, the delegate system has actually been tilted in his favor. As for Colorado, Trump seems steadfastly to have ignored that the state’s straw poll system was set up not to thwart “insurgent” candidates, but to help them. Trump lost in Colorado because he didn’t do the work; Ted Cruz won because he did.
If garnering a larger share of RNC delegates than his percentages would demand leads Trump to conclude that the system is “rigged,” imagine how he’s going to react when he finds out about the electoral college . . .