The Republican National Committee withdrew a draft resolution that would have declared GOP front-runner Donald Trump the party’s presumptive nominee Thursday night after Trump himself said it shouldn’t, CNN reported.
RNC member and Trump ally David Bossie, a former campaign aide, proposed the draft resolution and was the one who withdrew it, according to the report.
CNN reported that the Trump campaign and Trump himself initially went along with the idea of the draft resolution but reversed course amid backlash.
That led to Trump pushing back on Bossie’s draft resolution in a social media post, saying Thursday he should earn it the “old fashioned way” — at the ballot box.
Further, Trump said it shouldn’t be done “for the sake of party unity.”
Trump’s response could have been considered surprising, before CNN’s report, given his pressure campaign on Nikki Haley to drop out of the race and his past bouts with the RNC over GOP debates.
“While I greatly appreciate the Republican National Committee (RNC) wanting to make me their presumptive nominee, and while they have far more votes than necessary to do it, I feel, for the sake of party unity, that they should NOT go forward with this plan, but that I should do it the ‘Old Fashioned’ way, and finish the process off at the ballot box,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social.
“Thank you to the RNC for the Respect and Devotion you have shown me!”
Trump must win 1,215 delegates at the national convention July 15-18 in Milwaukee to secure the party’s nomination for the general election. After Trump won the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, he has 32 delegates and Haley has 17.
However, Haley won’t gain any delegates at the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 8 since she is not on the ballot and is trailing in polls by a wide margin in her home state’s primary, South Carolina, on Feb. 24.
“I did hear Nikki say ‘It’s off to South Carolina,’ and I do love South Carolina, but she forgot one thing: next week it’s Nevada,” Trump said Tuesday in his victory speech in New Hampshire. “And I’m pleased to announce we just won Nevada, 100%.”