Many people are surprised by what the GOP is doing to Donald Trump in the 2016 GOP presidential race, but, they shouldn't be.

In 2012, the last man standing against Mitt Romney in the Republican nomination process, Dr. Ron Paul (former congressman from Texas), brought an army of grassroots delegates won fairly and under the rules of individual states’ GOP conventions and in the lead-up to state conventions at county and district conventions. In fact, he won a majority of delegates in at least five states in the run-up to the national Republican National Convention.

Prior to the commencement of the 2012 convention in Tampa, the Rules Committee found ways to de-credential Paul delegates whom he won fairly and under each state's party rules. The RNC Rules Committee further changed the rules by increasing the threshold in the number of states in which a candidate must have a plurality of delegates — from five to eight — in order for a presidential candidate’s name to be placed in nomination. Prior to that rule change, the threshold was clearly met by Paul, Romney’s only real competitor at the convention. All the documentation exists in the second edition of a book titled America's Lost Opportunity: Stolen Victories 2012. It's not surprising what is happening now. In 2012, it happened, but the media prevented the public from fully knowing all the facts.

Shame on the party and political system for promulgating deceptive and unfair practices in the 2012 presidential race; the national party structure/leadership is aiming to once again control nomination outcomes in the 2016 presidential race. The biggest horror is that the corporate media swept these questionable and deceptive occurrences in 2012 under the radar screen with little or no news coverage. By looking the other way, the media gave full cover to what the political establishment was doing; the media is partly to blame for the situation unfolding in the 2016 presidential race, aiding and abetting a national political system bent on nominating a perfect order taker, at the expense of the will of the people.

Deborah K. Smarth

MANALAPAN