Trump abandons loyalty pledge to Republican candidate
Frontrunner opens possibility he could run as an independent if he's pushed aside by a brokered convention.
In comments to CNN, Donald Trump has abandoned his signed pledge to be loyal to the Republican Party's presidential candidate should he not win the nomination himself.
The Republican frontrunner's subtext is clear: if he fails to win a majority of delegates (1237 is the magic number) and party mandarins force a brokered convention that chooses an alternative candidate, Mr Trump could toss his toys and run as an independent.
The threat has to be taken seriously by the Republican hierarchy.
In 1992, billionaire Ross Perot ran as an independent. Mr Perot — who bears so many parallels to Mr Trump in bluster and protectionist policy — captured 18.9% of the vote, splitting support on the right and allowing Bill Clinton (43.0%) to come through the middle and triumph over George H W Bush (37.5%).
Read more about the chances of a brokered convention and how it would work here.
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Chris Keall
Thu, 31 Mar 2016
Thu, 31 Mar 2016
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Trump abandons loyalty pledge to Republican candidate
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