In other news, now that the petty hand-measuring contest that was Trump v Rubio v Cruz is over and no one longer cares about the Republican Primaries on social media, it seems that Trump may not receive the 1,237 delegates he needs to clench the Republican nomination. That is, as Trump’s “reign of terror” is faltering, the possibility of a contested convention is now about equally probable, which hasn’t occurred for over half a century since Ford’s nomination.

With 17 states left to cast their ballots, Trump will need to wring out at least half of the remaining delegates over Cruz and Kasich to avoid a new ruling at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July. Unfortunately for him, political journalists are plastering everywhere that he will likely fall (approximately) 100 short. To add insult to injury, his chances don’t look bright for the RNC.

According to Cruz, supporters of Rubio and Kasich “naturally come” to him and his campaign, which will provide him with great advantage over Trump in Cleveland. Of course, Kasich’s resignation from the race is not a done-deal. In fact, he seems very adamant in his position of clinging on to his delegates. And perhaps for now Cruz should find his candidacy a blessing in disguise in ensuring Trump’s loss.

The rules for the nomination at the RNC will be “up in the air” until the time draws closer, allowing party officials to alter them until just days before. This includes rules like the previous “Eight State Rule” requiring a candidate to receive a majority of delegates in at least eight states to be nominated on the floor. This could or could not come into play, considering which candidates have who on their sides. But typically, convention delegates will just vote over and over until one candidate hits the magic 1,237 (typically not past the third or fourth ballot), like a lottery machine. Or, more accurately, Russian Roulette.

Who votes at the RNC? After all, they may actually be the key in the outcome of a contested convention. It turns out to be a sort of puree of candidate-chosen delegates (frankly, whoever has more has an advantage) and those nominated at district conventions during April and May.

What’s more, there are rumors of the possibility of a “savior candidate,” and I’m not talking about Negan (although I won’t deny that he might back some support). However, if the GOP were to nominate an alternate candidate (Paul Ryan has already denounced his partaking in such a thing), the party’s image would be tarnished further. When voters are already feeling “betrayed” by their party, officials proposing a straight-laced, not-Trump, not-Cruz name would be a risky move.

And for the sake of covering all bases, I will mention that Democratic officials have already ruled out the likelihood of a contested convention on their end of the playing field, and there frankly isn’t any persuasive reasoning against this.

Speculation about the RNC will be useless until we can better predict the outcome of the remaining primaries. The big dates for the rest of April will be the 19th, when Trump is predicted to win most of New York’s 95 delegates, and the 26th, which hosts the primaries for five more states. All things considered, we’ve seen predictions go wrong before – I’m looking at you, G.W.