New Republican Loyalty Pledge Says if Candidate Wins Nomination They Will Drop Out For Trump

Milwaukee, WI – As the build up to the first Republican national debate winds up it remains unclear which candidates will make the debate. The rules require each candidate to garner three polls above 1% support, 40,000 individual donors, and the signing of a loyalty pledge. Although multiple candidates have qualified under the first two criteria the third has caused some stir among the Republican candidates as the loyalty pledge continually gets rewritten.

Nikki Haley R-SC explained the controversy thusly, “loyalty pledges are not new to the Republican Party. In 2016 a loyalty pledge was circulated that any Republican would support the nominee whether they won the nomination or not, and all Republicans but Trump signed the pledge. Since 2016 Trump has used loyalty pledges to ensure his followers would hold loyalty to him above the good of the nation and we have been signing loyalty pledges ever since.”

The loyalty pledge adopted by the RNC this time requires any Republican nominee who wins the nomination to drop out and hand the nomination to Donald Trump. The pledge comes as Donald Trump has continued to show contempt for democracy of any kind, turning his contempt for US elections into contempt to the RNC for officially holding a primary. In response, the Republican National Committee has attempted to appease Trump by demanding all candidates sign the new loyalty pledge to participate in Wednesday’s debate.

“With this pledge in place Trump should not fear any candidate taking too much support since that candidate would just drop out for him anyways” said RNC chair Ronna McDaniels.

Although candidates were expected to oppose the pledge, at least in principle, candidates have instead rushed to sign the pledge.

“Look, I am the biggest Trump supporter there is” said Ron DeSantis R-FL. “No one should require additional proof if they know me. However, if Trump asks nicely I will sign it.”

Sources close to DeSantis confirmed he would sign the loyalty pledge even if asked not so nicely. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley were not the only ones to sign the loyalty pledge. In the rush to court Donald Trump’s supporters each and every Republican candidate has been willing to sign the pledge even as a deterrent to their own presidential ambitions.

 “I want all Republicans to know that no matter who signed it first there is no one more willing to publicly fellate Donald Trump than myself” said Vivek Ramaswamy as he signed the pledge.

On the other side of the aisle Democrats have criticized the loyalty pledges for showing the Republican Party as weak and unable to look out for the interests of everyday Americans. House Minority whip Tom Emmer D-MN spoke on the issue.

“Loyalty pledges demand that Republicans put loyalty to Trump over America and democracy. These actions are spineless and a core rejection of our own democratic principles. This continues to show that in the pursuit of one man the Republican Party has lost its soul and is unable to govern accordingly.”