A Vermont GOP rule blocks support for felons. Looking to approve Trump, however, State Republicans are already scrambling to prove they have no prior convictions.
The party of law and order sure loves itself some criminals. Looking for ways around a rule barring the Vermont GOP from accepting candidates with felony convictions, the Vermont GOP's lack of conviction is on display. Party elders shared a list of reasons one might be exempt from their rule, none of which Trump qualifies for. No one will be shocked when they find a way to allow his candidacy against their own rules.
"In the past, exemptions like this have been made when a candidate may have completed their sentence, when they have evidence of kind of turning their life around and have shown a capacity to be of service to their local community," Dame said in a video statement on Tuesday. "In the past, this has been done because we believe in second chances."
So far, the party's executive committee has not met "to even discuss what, if any, action we would take and whether or not such an action would be necessary in the case of President Trump," Dame said in the recording.
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"Based on the video, I think that their minds are made up and that the Vermont Republican Party is going to go to the wall for Donald Trump, and that is shameful."
Dandeneau added, "They should be humiliated and embarrassed by the fact that they're going to waive their own rules to support a man who was convicted of 34 felonies for covering up an affair with massive campaign finance violations to win the presidential election in 2016."
According to Dame, the party bylaw is unlikely to affect Vermont's delegates to next month's convention. Nearly half of them are slated to cast their ballots for Trump.
VT Digger
Previously:
• Cat gets honorary doctorate from Vermont university
• Vermont will be the 9th state to legalize marijuana
• 'Oh my god, I'm gonna get shot' — Vermont cops terrorize high school students with mock mass shooting
