'Death grip': Trump hold over GOP likened to 'Jonestown suicide' by ex-RNC member

Former President Donald Trump's hold on the Republican National Committee is like that of cult leader Jim Jones' on the residents of Jonestown, a former RNC member said Tuesday.

Fergus Cullen, former party chair in New Hampshire, made this analogy to the Huffington Post in his explanation of why the RNC would move forward with nominating a convicted felon as its 2024 presidential nominee.

“The residents of Jonestown chose suicide rather than leave,” Cullen told the Huffington Post. “He has a death grip on the RNC and the delegates. Even if polls showed him losing 65-35, they would choose to go down with him.”

Richard Porter, an RNC member from Illinois, agreed Trump will be the chosen candidate despite the looming threat of a prison sentence in his criminal hush money case.

“There will be no move to, no mechanism for and no interest in removing Trump at the convention,” Porter said.

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The Republican National Convention will take place in Milwaukee from July 15 to July 18, just three days after Trump is slated to appear in front of Justice Juan Merchan and receive sentence on 34 counts that he criminally falsified business records.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg contended this was done to conceal hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election that Trump feared he would lose should the adult film star go public with a story about a sexual encounter, which he denied and she detailed in court.

Trump also faces criminal election interference charges in Georgia state court and Washington, D.C. federal court linked to his efforts to challenge results in 2020 and the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.

Despite these serious charges — and a criminal conviction — the RNC appears determined to back the former president, whose name he shares with the current co-chair and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump.

Oscar Brock, an RNC member from Tennessee, told the Huffington Post, that it is possible but "unlikely" for the Convention Rules Committee propose a rule to release delegates for a single reason.

“The Trump campaign will have practical control of the Rules Committee," he said.