Pandemonium broke out on the floor of the Republican National Convention today as ten states attempted to introduce a resolution to release delegates from their pledges on the first vote.
After a voice vote was called, the chair called it for the "Ayes" despite the fact that there was absolutely no consensus on the floor for the motion. A roll-call vote was refused, which led Mike Lee and Ken Cuccinelli to protest loudly, but to no avail.
The Iowa, Colorado and Virginia delegations then left the convention floor in protest.
TPM:
Trump foes said they had the signatures of a majority of the delegates from nine delegations to force a roll call vote on the convention's rules. However, when it became time to approve the rules, the officials presiding said that the three of those delegations had withdrawn their petition, and the rules were approved in a voice vote.
The scene on the floor was chaotic when the vote on the convention's rules was called. The anti-Trump delegates, many of them clustered around the Virginia delegation, began chanting "Dump Trump," only to be met by chants of "USA, USA."
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) made a motion for a roll call vote, but it was announced that the movement had lost the three of the nine delegations it needed to force a vote.
Senator Lee was ranting, too:
"I have never in all my life, certainly in six years in the United States Senate, prior to that as a lifelong Republican, never seen anything like this," Lee said. "There is no precedent for this in parliamentary procedure. There is no precedent for this in the rules of the Republican National Convention. We are now in uncharted territory. Somebody owes us an explanation. I have never seen the chair abandoned like that. They vacated the stage entirely."
The CSPAN callers right now are...special. It's the Lord of the Flies in real life.
And this happened, apparently:
At #RNCinCLE @realDonaldTrump ordered @Reince to pull people out of the convention and force them to remove their signatures from petitions.
— (((Picasso Kat))) (@Picassokat) July 18, 2016
Update: Hillary Clinton's campaign has responded with the ironically-titled video, "Law And Order"
Today’s #RNCinCLE theme: “Law and Order.”https://t.co/CSpr7PgkMS
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 18, 2016