Glenn's open opposition to Donald Trump’s candidacy has him taking shots from critics on every side. Breitbart, Drudge Report and Alex Jones --- to name a few --- have relentlessly attacked Glenn's character and intelligence with twisted facts and false allegations, making their true colors known.
The latest conspiracy theory now circulating is that Glenn has received millions of dollars from a pro-Ted Cruz super PAC in exchange for his endorsement and stumping on the Texas Senator's behalf.
Drew Ryun, political director for Trusted Leadership PAC (the super PAC in question) joined The Glenn Beck Program on Friday to shed light on the “bribery” and to talk money and math as the campaign heads towards a contested convention
Listen to this segment or read the transcript below.
The "Evil" Super PAC
GLENN: Drew Ryan is the political director for the Trusted Leadership PAC, which is one of those evil super PACs. Why are you so evil?
DREW: Well, you know, it's just one of those things.
But really what it is, is a super PAC is --- we run as, in a sense, a parallel PAC to a political campaign. And usually super PACs are filled with trusted operatives that the campaign knows and is comfortable with. And there's a high wall between us, according to the Federal Election Commission, that we can't communicate with the campaign. So we look to see where the campaign is, what the message is from the candidate, in our case, Senator Ted Cruz. And where they are playing. And we will look at financial reports and see what ad buys they've made, the message that they're driving. And we will, in a sense, serve to drive that message home.
Now, a super PAC is not constrained in the way that a campaign is. A campaign is locked in at a certain rate for maximum donors that can only give $2,700. A super PAC, the donations are unlimited. So we deal a lot with the major donors that help fund TV, radio -- in our case, a lot of highly targeted voter ID and grassroots rallies.
GLENN: Do they know that you have given me -- you've funneled through my charity $8 million right directly --
DREW: See, I would love to know where that money is.
GLENN: I've already spent it.
DREW: Oh, you have? Well, if you could actually find a way to get it back, that would be great too.
GLENN: Right.
DREW: But, you know, unlike, say, the Jeb Bush super PAC that blew through $100 million or Rubio's PAC that went through $70 million, we have raised and spent right at $30 million. So for us, it's one of those things where every dollar matters and how we spend it matters.
GLENN: Yeah. Because it's -- you really have a problem -- everybody has a problem right now that the money is staying off -- you know, a lot of people came in early. And a lot of the money has stayed off and said, "You know what, I don't know who is going to win it." Is that true or not?
DREW: No. We're actually seeing some movement in our direction, as it becomes clear that we're going to a contested convention. And there is a delegate path where Senator Cruz could win this on the second ballot at the convention. So we're starting to see a lot more movement from some of the traditional, what we could call establishment donors inside the Republican Party.
Delegate Math
GLENN: Can you go through the delegate math? Because this is -- this, I think, is going to be really confusing for Americans, that this isn't stealing the election. This is the way it's done. It was done this way in 1976. It was done this way in the 1950s. Abraham Lincoln won the presidency this way. This is the way it works.
DREW: So what happens in a lot of these presidential elections is you have pools of delegates to the national convention sometimes that are picked a year in advance. So what you're seeing is when you have, say, a Donald Trump win South Carolina and take all 50 delegates, unfortunately for Donald Trump, he found out that those delegates had been picked a year in advance, and he would not have a say in who these delegates would be. These are not Trump delegates, per se, that will be going to represent South Carolina at the national convention.
GLENN: If he had the 1237, they would have to be Trump delegates.
DREW: They would have to be -- in fact, they are bound on the first ballot. So when you look at how a Republican Convention works and obviously a Democrat as well, you have delegates that are bound through certain number of ballots. So a lot of states, if a candidate wins, again, going back to South Carolina, Donald Trump wins all 50, those delegates are bound by the by-laws of the party to vote for him on the first ballot. But if he doesn't get to 1237 -- and there's an increasing likelihood that he won't -- then all of a sudden those delegates become unbound for the second potentially third ballot of voting on the convention floor. And that is danger for Donald Trump.
STU: They can do whatever they want at that point, right?
DREW: They can do whatever they want to at that point.
Voting Their Conscience
STU: Does Donald Trump have any sway over them? If he says, "Look, I want you guys to continue to vote for me."
GLENN: Because we've heard that you can bribe these people. You know, you can give them golf memberships, let's say you own beautiful golf courses all around the world.
DREW: Let's just say that the law regarding bribery and delegates at a national convention is murky at best. There's always the possibility there may be some things going on like that, particularly from a Trump campaign. But, yeah, once the first ballot is over, a lot of state delegates are released to vote their conscience in the second or third ballots.
GLENN: So let me ask you about the delegates. Because you've done this before. So the delegates -- who are these people generally? Because I would think -- let me tell you why I'm asking this question. And then you can take it where you want to go.
One, bribery. Are they believers enough to be offended by that? And two, how are they going to react to somebody threatening to give out their address, their phone number, their hotel room?
DREW: Well, let's start from that second question and work our way back. I think you'll have a very vociferous reaction to being threatened. A lot of these folks are party loyalists. When you look at who usually goes to the conventions, it's usually a party. We don't have contested conventions. As you referenced, 1976 was the last time we had a contested convention inside the Republican Party.
These are also conservative grassroots organizers. These are not traditionally on either camp Trump-type people. So when you look at the Trump loyalists --
GLENN: Why do you say that? Why do you say that?
DREW: Trump, when you look at his natural base is -- and he actually does have a base.
GLENN: Oh, yeah.
DREW: 50 percent of these people, we've never seen before. They're independents. They're Democrats crossing over in these open primaries, which why the next six to seven weeks look tenuous. After we get out of the northeast and head towards Indiana and West Virginia and Nebraska, these are all closed primaries. It looks like a tough road for Donald Trump over the last five to six weeks in this primary. He's not going to have independents and Democrats crossing over and voting in the Republican primaries. When you look at the delegate pool, as I referenced earlier, a lot of these people have been picked by the party hierarchy, sometimes as much as a year before these primaries actually took place. These are not people that are naturally going to be going towards Donald Trump.
Devil’s Advocate
GLENN: Let me play devil's advocate, if they're establishment people, they're not likely to go to Ted Cruz either.
DREW: I think that all depends on Rule 40B. And there's been a lot of conversation about the impact that the rules committee will have on the 2016 convention.
GLENN: What's Rule 40B?
DREW: Let me roll this back a little bit. So you have a rules committee that meets a week before the convention. Each state or territory has two delegates per...
(ringing)
GLENN: Okay.
DREW: And you will have 112 members on the rules committee that will actually meet and decide what the rules will be for the convention in 2016. Rule 40B right now states that you have to win the majority of --
(ringing)
GLENN: Sorry. My phone is seemingly going off here. And I'm sorry for that. Go ahead.
DREW: It's totally fine.
GLENN: Go ahead.
STU: Do you have any idea how to turn the thing off?
GLENN: No, because I never carry my phone. I don't ever use it. Somebody else uses it. I don't carry.
DREW: I love this show already. This is fantastic.
STU: For a guy that just got $8 million.
GLENN: I know. But I hire somebody to --
STU: Okay.
GLENN: They tell me.
DREW: You hire a phone Sherpa? You could hire two phone Sherpas.
GLENN: That's right. Yeah. So I'm sorry. I lost you at hello.
DREW: Yes, well, that's fine. Because I'm coming back to you.
All right. So when you talk about the rules committee, and I think that's a story that's going to become bigger and bigger as we go towards the convention. The rules committee always meets the week before the actual convention. Each state or territory gets two delegates a piece on this rules committee. So you'll have 112 delegates that will decide what the rules for the convention will be.
Currently, the party states that Rule 40B, you have to win the majority of delegates in eight states.
GLENN: Okay.
DREW: There will be only two candidates that will have the opportunity to be considered on the floor of the convention right now. Obviously, the rules can change the week before. And I'll talk about that later.
GLENN: How many states did Marco Rubio win?
PAT: One. He won one state. And a territory.
DREW: One. He won Minnesota. And a territory, Puerto Rico. John Kasich has won Ohio.
Playing Around With the Rules
GLENN: So there's only those two -- even if they're suspended, there's only those two.
DREW: Potentially. I mean, John Kasich may win Pennsylvania, but there are no other states that he can win. So at best, he'll win two states going in.
Right now, I think Ted Cruz is going to win 13 to 14 states when you look at the remainder of the states on the calendar. He's already won seven. And obviously Donald Trump will clear the threshold of Rule 40B. Something for your listeners and your viewers, however, if you start to see Republican National Committee men and women start appointed to the rules committee, there is a good chance that Rule 40B will change, and we potentially will go from a contested convention to an open convention. And that's when things potentially get crazy.
But if the Trump and Cruz campaigns are doing their job, you will see a rules committee stacked with their people and Rule 40B will stay in place.
GLENN: Is Donald Trump --
DREW: Paying attention? I don't know.
GLENN: Yeah, I mean, is he -- it's crazy. It's really crazy.
STU: From a guy who has pitched his campaign as I'm the guy who can get all these things done. I'm going to understand the rules more than everybody.
GLENN: Right. And I'm the guy who can hire really smart people. The people around him are dummies.
DREW: You know, he's running around saying, I'll hire the best people, how is it then if you hire the best people, you're hiring the guy that drove Scott Walker's campaign into the ground?
STU: He's a good candidate. I liked Scott Walker.
DREW: I liked Scott Walker. Literally he was my second choice in this election season, and Rick Riley drove his campaign into the ground in seven to eight weeks and blew through millions of dollars and yet he gets hired by Donald Trump's campaign yesterday.
PAT: Wow.
STU: They were saying, you need to define someone who has some ability. Which obviously Scott Walker saw something in Riley, but also, someone who was so down on their luck and had performed poorly that they would take the job with Donald Trump. And he's kind of the sweet spot of those two things, right? I don't want to put words in your mouth. That's kind of why they went to this guy. Because, I mean, he's not completely without ability. But he's in a tough spot because of the Walker campaign. Walker was one of the frontrunners. A good candidate. A guy who could really connect with both sides, sort of an establishment and conservative side. And his campaign ended before Jim Gilmore's did.
DREW: So what Stu is saying is he's taking the best available tier-three talent. You're right, he is.
JEFFY: He'll always have Lewandowski to consult with.
DREW: Well, of course. And Paul Manafort. And Roger Stone.
GLENN: Have you ever seen anything like this before?
DREW: No. And here's what I think is going on is, I don't think Trump expected to be in this long, to be honest.
GLENN: I don't think so either.
DREW: I think this was something of a protest campaign. He said a few things that resonated with the grassroots, with the disaffected. And all of a sudden, it's like he's taking off. And he doesn't have the infrastructure or the talent to see this thing to the end. Now, I think he's the least serious serious contender for nomination that we've ever seen.
Featured Image: Attendees to a Republican fund-raiser walk by protesters and activists outside of a midtown hotel which is hosting a black-tie event for the state Republican Party on April 14, 2016 in New York City. Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are all scheduled to appear at the event which comes days before New York will hold its primary. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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