GOP challengers accuse Trump and RNC of excluding them from primary

President Donald Trump speaks at a meeting about the reduction of corporate regulation at the White House Oval Office in Washington, DC on October 17, 2018.Saul Loeb / Getty Images

• Three Republicans aiming to prevent the re-election of President Donald Trump have written a scathing chronicle condemning their party for the cancellation of its primaries and caucuses in four states.
• Former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, former Illinois representative Joe Walsh and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, wrote the column, which was published in the Washington Post on Friday night.
• "The cowards are fleeing the fighting," they wrote in the column. "The warriors fight for what they believe in. The United States respects warriors, only weak competitions fear."
• RNC officials said there are "no legitimate principals" ahead of Trump and taxpayers are paying millions of dollars to pay for "a useless primary."
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Three Republicans seeking to prevent President Donald Trump's second term in the White House wrote a scathing column of opinion condemning their party for the cancellation of its primaries and caucus in four states.

Former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, former Illinois representative Joe Walsh and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, wrote the column, which was published in the Washington Post on Friday night. The three Republican presidential candidates write that "in the United States, citizens choose their leaders".

"The main nomination process is the only opportunity for Republicans to be heard to decide who will represent our party," said the column. "Let these voices be heard."

The authors fired on the Republican National Committee. The state government parties of South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona and Kansas are all planning to cancel the primaries and caucuses of the 2020 elections. This decision would cement Trump's appointment to the states. and would prevent any Republican from challenging it before the general election.

Read more: Trump challengers accuse the GOP of rigging the 2020 elections for presidents by canceling primaries in four states

RNC officials said there are "no legitimate principals" ahead of Trump and taxpayers are paying millions of dollars to pay for "a useless primary."

The move is not quite unprecedented. In 2012, the Democratic primaries in 10 states, including Arizona, had not yet occurred before the second term of President Barack Obama. and eight were canceled during Bill Clinton's presidency in 1996.

But Sanford, Walsh and Weld have decried the movement as non-American and as the "latest shame, courtesy of Team Trump".

"What does it say about the Republican Party?" "If a party represents only reelection, it does not actually represent anything," they wrote. "Our next candidate must be competitive in the marketplace of ideas, values ​​and leadership, and each of us thinks we can best lead the party, as well as the outgoing president, and let everyone stand in front of the public. "

"The cowards are fleeing the fighting," they wrote in the column. "The warriors fight for what they believe in. The United States respects warriors, only weak competitions fear."