The Colorado delegation to the Republican national convention has long been one of the most vocal redoubts of opposition to Donald Trump in the Republican party. But emails shared with the Guardian reveal how divisive the conflict over Trump has become, with supporters of the GOP nominee comparing Never Trumpers to opponents of Jesus Christ and using a 12-year-old to make threatening phone calls to coax anti-Trump delegates into supporting him.



In a thread started when Patrick Davis, the Trump campaign’s director in the Rocky Mountain State, emailed the entire delegation with a link to sign up to volunteer, supporters of both Trump and Ted Cruz engaged in angry recriminations. The emails were shared with the Guardian by a source within the delegation.

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Cruz swept the delegate selection process in April when Colorado held its state convention. Colorado is one of three states that does not hold a primary or any other form of voting in its primary process. Instead, delegates are elected in a convention by party activists and are free to back candidates of their choosing. Cruz won all 34 delegates up for grabs in the state, and his supporters there have long resisted efforts by Trump to become the party’s nominee as they feel he is insufficiently conservative. One delegate from Colorado, Kendal Unruh, is the leader of the effort to “free the delegates” in a last-ditch attempt to thwart Trump from becoming the nominee.

Davis’s initial email bluntly stated: “To get involved in the Trump campaign in Colorado you should sign up at the following link:http://cologop.org/volunteer/. You can also send an email to info@cologop.org and they will get you plugged into the field office closest to you to start walking or volunteering.”

This led to a cascade of criticisms and complaints from those skeptical of Trump. Many shared their resentment of the statement by Sarah Palin that those Republicans opposed to Trump’s candidacy were Rats (her acronym for “Republicans against Trump”). They cited lyrics from Les Misérables and their desire to “preserve the true conservative values of the party” in their refusal to support Trump, and railed against the presumptive nominee as “a charlatan” and even “a dirtbag”. None showed signs of moderation. As one said: “I’m a CAT (Conservative Against Trump) and voting Hillary for Prison.” They saw Trump as “not an actual Republican”.

In particular, there was a deep resentment at what they called “soft thug tactics” by Trump supporters to encourage them to support the presumptive nominee. One candidate for alternate received a voicemail from a 12-year-old who insisted he was speaking on behalf of both the Trump campaign and the Colorado Republican party and said that the Colorado Republican party wanted nothing to do with the effort to “free the delegates”. Davis soon clarified that the 12-year-old was only speaking on behalf of the Trump campaign and warned gravely: “I think every Colorado delegate to Cleveland has to examine their conscience and live with the guilt that comes with voting to weaken Donald Trump, our Republican nominee.” Another was told in a phone call from the 12-year-old Trump supporter that those seeking to free the delegates were somehow plotting to steal nomination from the real estate developer and hand it to Jeb Bush.

In return, one Trump alternate, Kimberly JaJack, compared those Republicans opposed to the real estate developer to “the Pharisees who were critical of and critized [sic] by Jesus”. This led one anti-Trump figure to express alarm that supporters of the candidate were comparing him to Jesus.

JaJack also railed against state GOP chairman Steve House, who is supporting Trump and was wearing a Trump pin at the Rules Committee in Cleveland on Tuesday, but has been tolerant of the “free the delegates” effort, saying Unruh has “the right to propose or oppose any rule she feels is important”. This led JaJack to condemn the state party chair. “He certainly has not chosen to stand up for what is right for every human being in God’s sight,” she wrote. “I am Almighty God’s witness of his bias.”

The Republican national convention will convene on Monday in Cleveland and will decide then whether to allow Unruh’s effort to “free the delegates” to move forward.