Suddenly, the press has figured out that contrary to the “GOP falls in line” narrative, a significant number of Republican heavyweights have not endorsed Trump or are un-endorsing him. “The anti-Trump movement is now growing rather than shrinking: At least eight GOP senators either won’t vote for Trump or have declined to back him publicly,” Politico observes. “Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Rep. Bill Flores of Texas, who chairs the conservative Republican Study Committee, both said Wednesday they weren’t ready to get on board, either.”

Hence, we now see chatter about a contested convention ripple through the conservative ranks. Jon Ward reports:

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“There is a rapidly moving train toward the convention to try to obstruct it at the convention. Trump in the last 72 hours has given hope to people who think it’s now possible. . . . He’s starting to give everybody hope that he should be stopped at the convention,” Erickson said, though he cautioned that if Trump “cleans up his act then I think that hope will go away.” One of the central players inside the movement to recruit an independent conservative candidate also said Monday that an anti-Trump group was “actively recruiting and setting a convention strategy.”

Bill Kristol, a leader in the #NeverTrump movement, tells me, “I’d been a skeptic on the potential of s convention fight. But Trump’s behavior is making it a possibility that the delegates vote their conscience and save the party from someone who won, after all, only a minority of the primary votes cast.”

What would it take to pull this off? “First, an unprecedented amount of spine from RNC leadership who realize this isn’t just an election; it’s an existential choice about whether the GOP exists after Trump,” GOP consultant Rick Wilson says. “Next, it requires the Rules Committee to withstand a few days of fury from the Trump horde.” By that he means the Republican National Committee rules committee likely would need to insert a “conscience” clause or some other barrier that would allow delegates to have a proverbial off-ramp from the Trump campaign. That might require “at least some signals from a prominent Republican or two” that they’d be willing to step up to the plate if the delegates found a mechanism for dislodging Trump.

Another active leader in the #NeverTrump movement Quin Hillyer, a longtime conservative activist and journalist, confirms, “In all the discussions with active #NeverTrump-ers it is clear that there is great enthusiasm for a convention effort to replace a bigot with a much better candidate.” He points out that all that is needed is for bound delegates to abstain or to support a rule change that “a nominee must release his tax returns, like every candidate since Richard Nixon.” A conscience clause authorizing abstentions may be needed. Hillyer points to a section of the existing Rule 16B of the convention rules that would actually instruct the chair to count bound delegates as votes for Trump even if they abstain (“the secretary of the convention shall record the delegate’s vote or nomination in accordance with the delegate’s obligation under state law or state party rule”). Compelling a vote in such a fashion, says Hillyer, is “sick and un-American.” (Perhaps an elected official serving as a delegate should publicly dare the RNC to count his abstention as a vote of support.) In short, the enthusiasm is there but no agreed upon mechanism for accomplishing for a delegate vote.

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It is fortuitous for the #NeverTrump movement that this week Mitt Romney is hosting his Experts and Enthusiasts (E2) confab in Park City, Utah. This annual event where Romney political favorites rub shoulders with major donors takes on special significance given the firestorm over Trump and angst about the future of the GOP. The Salt Lake Tribune reports, “It isn’t expected to be a Trump-bashing event, with presenters coming from a variety of backgrounds, but it’s highly likely that supporters will ask Romney how he and other conservatives should respond to a nominee that they find unpalatable.”

The #NeverTrump hopefuls should be on the lookout for several developments.

First, they should see how openly House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), an invited speaker, expresses frustration with the Trump debacle and whether he recognizes that his agenda is actually imperiled by a Trump campaign and, heaven forbid, a Trump presidency. Donors may signal whether they think Ryan’s own future is endangered by trying to simultaneously “support” Trump and denounce his bigotry and policy gibberish.

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Second, anti-Trump forces should watch the reception that Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who for a time was a favorite of those recruiting an independent conservative candidate, gets. A spokesman for Sasse tells Right Turn, “As he has done before, Senator Sasse will likely speak about the vision deficit resulting from both exhausted political parties and the need for Republicans to meet the challenges of the current moment rather than pretending we can return to a 1950s economy.” Do big donors make another run at Sasse, trying to get him to lead the “dump Trump” effort either as a third candidate or an alternative at the convention if Trump can be sidelined? Equally important will be his long-term view of the GOP’s future — or if it even has one.

Third, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who readily fell in line behind Trump, might be pressed to explain why Hillary Clinton is not a much better choice than Trump if Cotton wants to promote an internationalist foreign policy that strengthens alliances, does not leave vacuums for bad actors to fill and won’t make excuses for Vladimir Putin or express admiration for Kim Jong Un. If a president’s most important role is as commander in chief, how could Cotton possibly support him? Cotton here risks sacrificing his short-term image with Arkansas voters for his long-term prospects as a leader, not a follower, in the conservative movement.