What Trump Got By Giving Up Nothing

Rick Klein: “It’s not quite fully honest to suggest, as Donald Trump did, that he got nothing in return for his decision to take a pledge to support the Republican nominee, no matter what… For starters, it’s important to realize what Trump was giving up: nothing. He needed to take similar pledges to appear on some state ballots as a Republican, including in South Carolina. He’d begun none of the difficult work of ballot access he would have to be working on to make a third-party run plausible. So in exchange for nothing, he got something of great value: another nationally televised campaign moment.”

“Once again, it was all about the Donald. Once again, he did not disappoint, with a dramatic prop and a whirlwind press conference that included the requisite number of just-weird touches. (What were those Indonesian men in suits doing there at the front of the room?) Trump hates losers, of course. He managed to emerge a winner for the moment – and for longer, potentially, now that his 16 GOP rivals are on record saying they’d support him if he becomes the nominee.”

Gabriel Sherman: “By signing the loyalty pledge, Trump is giving up very little while exacting a crucial guarantee from the GOP that the party won’t sabotage his candidacy. The truth is that Trump’s vow to bolt for a third-party amounted to an elaborate ruse.”

National Journal: “But make no mis­take: Trump’s sig­na­ture will do noth­ing to pre­vent a third-party cam­paign if the real es­tate mogul de­cides to change his mind. Leg­ally speak­ing, the Re­pub­lic­an Party’s loy­alty oath isn’t worth the pa­per it’s prin­ted on.”