Some establishment Republicans will not accept defeat.

Weekly Standard Founder and Editor Bill Kristol has so far struck out in his attempt to recruit a third-party candidate to run against Donald Trump and hand the election to Hillary Clinton.

But his latest social media postings raised eyebrows as some wondered if he had found his man.

After attending a fundraiser for John McCain’s Senate re-election — a campaign in which McCain is locked in a tight race with conservative primary challenger Kelli Ward — Kristol mused on Twitter if McCain would run as an independent candidate in the presidential election.

Just left McCain fundraiser in DC. Happy to donate. But question occurred to me –why Senate reelection? Why not an indie run for President? — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 27, 2016

But while Kristol was just speculating, McCain added intrigue to the Stop Trump movement with his surprise announcement that the delegates should be free to vote their conscience at the upcoming Republican Convention.

McCain tells @jlifhits: Delegates should “make up their own minds” on how to vote at convention.https://t.co/rkRYVI1zMS#CountryFirst — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 28, 2016

And while it is unlikely that McCain would run as an independent or that delegates free to vote their wishes would choose him, opening the rules to allow delegates to select a new nominee would likely cost Republicans the 2016 election.

As much as the establishment hates to admit it, Donald Trump won 37 primaries and caucuses as well as set the record for most votes ever received in a Republican primary.

During the primary, when it looked like no candidate would reach the 1,237 delegates necessary to win the nomination, Trump supporters claimed that the candidate with the most delegates – even if he didn’t have the 1,237 vote majority – should be the nominee.

Establishment Republicans shot back that the rules are the rules and that no one would win the nomination until they had secured 1,237 delegates.

Now they are looking to change the rules after Trump has already won the game.

Doing so would likely alienate large numbers of Trump supporters who would view the maneuver as a handful of party insiders stealing the nomination from the millions of Republican voters who already chose their candidate.

When John McCain was the Republican nominee, many conservatives opposed his candidacy because of his support for gun control, silencing political speech and amnesty for illegal aliens.

But conservatives accepted that McCain won the nomination fair and square under the rules and did not attempt to hijack the process.

Now John McCain is endorsing chaos at the Republican Convention.

An unruly week in Cleveland – where either the Trump forces steamroll an establishment effort to swipe the nomination or a successful coup is executed by GOP elites – will leave hard feelings and only benefit Hillary Clinton.

Critics contend this move by McCain fits with his long history of aiding Democrat causes and sabotaging conservatives.

So will the elite steal the nomination from Trump at the convention?

Let us know your prediction in the comment section.