"Roll call vote" was the chant of the anti-Trump forces, a desire to have each state, one by one, announce their support or opposition not only for the rules package but, more broadly, for Trump.

AD

Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack was — unfortunately for him — tasked with overseeing this chaos. The first time he tried to declare that the "ayes" (pro-Trump) votes had it, he was shouted down and left the stage. Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a leading voice of the anti-Trump movement, called that decision to flee "surreal" and admitted that he had no idea what would come next.

AD

What came next was a return by Womack to the stage and a repetition of the voice vote. After declaring that the "ayes" had it (again), Womack noted that only six of the nine states demanding a roll call vote had stood firm. Seven states were needed.

And, scene. The Iowa and Colorado delegations walked off the floor. Boos cascaded down. But it was over.

For Republicans desperately hoping that unity would be the word of the day and the week here in Cleveland, however, the damage was done. The images of unhappy Republicans shouting for a chance to show their dissatisfaction with Trump and then walking out makes for just the sort of images out of this week that Republicans were hoping to avoid.

It showed, powerfully and with the eyes of the national media watching, that the idea that the GOP was rapidly uniting behind Trump is a pipe dream. And that divisions — real and serious ones — remain, no matter the rhetorical attempts to paper them over.