'They’ve rigged it': Trump insiders accused of backroom deals to ensure his nomination

Months before the first primary ballot is cast, Donald Trump and his surrogates are using a combination of flattery, bullying and threats to make sure state parties put their thumb on the scale and ensure he will be the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nominee.

According to a report from the New York Times, the former president has been working the phones, calling key state Republicans in an effort to get a leg up on the competition for the nomination and that has led one former high-profile member of the Trump administration to claim the fix is in.

As the Times is reporting, "Mr. Trump and his political team have spent months working behind the scenes to build alliances and contingency plans with key party officials, seeking to twist the primary and delegate rules in their favor. "

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Put another way, Ken Cuccinelli, who served under Trump but now backs Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), explained, "They’ve rigged it anywhere they thought they could pull it off.”

As the report notes, most of the maneuvering seems to be aimed at undercutting DeSantis who was once seen as the former president's chief competition.

According to Scott Golden, the chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, "This is the kind of stuff that’s not talked about in the news. This is important stuff. It is ultimately about making sure your person is the nominee.”

The Times is reporting that Trump's people are menacing state Republican Party officials with legal threats.

"Mr. Trump’s campaign warned state parties nationwide about the legal risks of working with super PACs. In the past, super PACs have generally been allowed to organize and advertise in both primaries and caucuses. But in Nevada, a new rule was enacted that barred super PACs from sending speakers, or even literature, to caucus sites, or getting data from the state party," the report states before adding that this maneuver appears primarily aimed at shutting out the Never Back Down PAC allied with DeSantis.

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That led DeSantis campaign manager James Uthmeier to complain, "I don’t think they play fair.”

Cuccinelli added, "No one has tried to rig the rules like Donald Trump has been doing here at least in a very long time. And no one has ever done it who, in other circumstances, complains about the rules being rigged.”

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