By Philip Bump and David Weigel
October 7 at 9:51 PM

More than 34,000 Republican voters have already cast their ballots for the 2016 general election according to the U.S. Election Project, 8,000 of them in the battleground state of North Carolina and another 5,000 in Florida. Not all of those ballots were cast for Donald Trump, it's safe to assume, but it's more than likely that most of them were. And that, in a nutshell, is why it's far too late for the Republican Party to dump Donald Trump from their ticket ...

Josh Putnam, a University of Georgia lecturer and expert on the machinations of the parties, told me at the time that the rule at issue was Rule 9. Rule 9 reads:

/// The party could amend the rule to dump Trump, for example, but that would take a majority of the party's Rules Committee and two-thirds of the entire party. This would be neither fast nor, necessarily, successful. (Putnam on Twitter on Friday night: "There just isn't enough time.&quot The party's spokesman later denied a meeting was taking place ...

Go on TV and cry and say - I have sinned

By Ben Schreckinger
10/08/16 01:53 PM EDT
Updated 10/08/16 01:53 PM EDT

... On Friday night, RNC chair Reince Priebus told an aggrieved state party chair that he realized a public dumping of Trump by the party would sink the nominee’s remaining chances. He said the committee would take 48 hours to reevaluate its election strategy, according to a Republican operative briefed on the conversation.

The RNC saw the departure of two low-level field staffers in the states on Friday night and is expecting more, according to the operative.

Meanwhile, the RNC has lawyers examining the possibility of putting forth another nominee one month from Election Day, with ballots already printed and early voting in progress in some states, according to two other Republicans. “RNC has an army of lawyers right now looking at Rule 9 and ballot questions,” said one, a Republican strategist. The RNC’s Rule 9 pertains to filling vacant nominations.

But the lawyers have concluded that Trump would have to cooperate in any attempt to replace him, said another Republican in touch with the committee. “The fact remains that he can only be replaced if he quits or dies. And he’s declared today he’s not planning on doing either” ...

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/republicans-replace-trump-229352

By Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 2:10 PM ET, Sat October 8, 2016

... The Republican National Committee's rules allow for the 168 party committee members to replace a nominee in the case of "death, declination, or otherwise."

The idea of having the RNC reconvene and select a new nominee was first floated in August. It was a long-shot then and practically impossible now because votes have already been cast and deadlines for removing candidates from the ballot have passed.

"I'm not aware of any national RNC rule remedy or federal statute here outside of state-by-state write-in rules," said one RNC committee member Saturday. "It is unrealistic and politically risky to beseech 50 different Secretaries of State to change ballots or to pursue write-in efforts. We are stuck, and so is Pence."

"I don't think it's an option. Seriously. Ballots are printed. People are already voting," said another RNC member. "We just have to live with it" ...

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/08/politics/republicans-replace-trump/

nominating Trump was only the icing on the case