Unlikely path for foes hoping to dump Trump at convention

Dismayed Republicans could still dump Donald Trump and find a different presidential nominee at their national convention next month.

Once viewed as a political joke, the blunt-spoken billionaire has stormed to the cusp of becoming the GOP nominee.

[...] Trump's recent disparagement of a judge, claiming he was incapable of impartially hearing a Trump lawsuit because he is Mexican-American, has triggered talk of replacing Trump.

Republicans were already divided over his past comments about Hispanics, women and others, and some leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., are backing Trump but labeling his remark "racist."

"What does Trump have to do or say for the party to disassociate itself from him?" asked Rory Cooper, senior adviser to the Never Trump political committee.

If no candidate wins the nomination by then, most delegates are free to vote for anyone in the second and succeeding rounds of voting.

"The primaries are baloney" and award candidates "bragging rights," not committed delegates, said Curly Haugland of North Dakota, a member of the Republican National Committee.

James Bopp Jr., an Indiana convention delegate and rules expert, says disregarding Trump's primary victory and naming a different nominee would mean "the destruction of the Republican Party."

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said talk of ditching Trump at the convention was a "Washington fantasy" that would look like the party was "trying to undo the will of the Republican electorate" and pull off "some sort of coup."