GOP Presidential Candidate Ben Carson has issued a warning to the Republican party, saying that if the party heads continue meeting to discuss how to derail Donald Trump at the convention, then he'll turn his back on the party.
This declaration came ahead of Tuesday's GOP presidential debate when rumors emerged that Republican insiders were discussing the possibility of a brokered convention in July 2016 if Donald Trump continues to dominate the polls but has not become the clear nominee.
"If the leaders of the Republican Party want to destroy the party, they should continue to hold meetings like the one described in the Washington Post this morning," Carson said in a statement. "If this was the beginning of a plan to subvert the will of the voters and replace it with the will of the political elite, I assure you Donald Trump will not be the only one leaving the party."
While this is the first time Carson has suggested leaving the GOP, it isn't the first time he has stood with Trump in pressuring the party to meet demands, such as calling for changes in the GOP presidential debate format.
He said that if the report is correct, then every voter who has been calling for change would feel betrayed and could even possibly lose their support.
"I pray that the report in the Post this morning was incorrect. If it is correct," Carson said. "If it is correct, every voter who is standing for change must know they are being betrayed. I won't stand for it."
In light of this, Chief strategist and communications director of the RNC Sean Spicer clarified the context of the situation, according to CNN.
"I say to Dr. Carson, 'Don't worry, your prayers have been answered,'" Spicer said. "it was a dinner where the subject was how the delegate selection process works. ... At the end of that dinner, there were a lot of questions asked."
The possibility of a brokered convention is one that the GOP still needs to consider, no matter how unlikely. The last time a brokered convention played out was in 1976 when Gerald Ford took the nomination over Ronald Reagan (R-Calif.) and ended up losing to Jimmy Carter (D-Ga.) in the subsequent presidential election.
