Mitt Romney Seeking to Suppress Donald Trump Delegate Count, Steal GOP Nomination at the Convention (VIDEO)

Reince Priebus, speaking with Greta Van Susteren yesterday, made it sound like the GOP nomination process was running along as smooth as silk. He said the party'd back Trump if he won the nomination.

Elsewhere, major machinations are afoot to deny Donald Trump the nomination. It's pretty sinister, actually. And I've always liked Mitt Romney, but sheesh, the guy just can't let go. He lost in 2012, and badly. He should have just run in the primaries again this year if he's jonesin' so much for the Oval Office. His attacks on Trump just look petty. He didn't hit Obama as hard as he hit Trump yesterday, and that's just sad.

At CNN, "First on CNN: Team Romney explores blocking Trump at RNC":

Washington (CNN) - Mitt Romney has instructed his closest advisers to explore the possibility of stopping Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention, a source close to Romney's inner circle says.

The 2012 GOP nominee's advisers are examining what a fight at the convention might look like and what rules might need revising.

"It sounds like the plan is to lock the convention," said the source.

Romney is focused on suppressing Trump's delegate count to prevent him from accumulating the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination.

But implicit in Romney's request to his team to explore the possibility of a convention fight is his willingness to step in and carry the party's banner into the fall general election as the Republican nominee. Another name these sources mentioned was House Speaker Paul Ryan, Romney's running mate in 2012.

You don't have to read too far between the lines of the speech Romney gave Thursday at the University of Utah to see the imprint of this plan. He urged voters to support the candidate most likely to prevent Trump from racking up delegates in their states -- saying he'd back Florida Sen. Marco Rubio if he were voting in the Sunshine State, Gov. John Kasich if he were voting in Ohio, or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the states where he polls as Trump's strongest foe.

"If the other candidates can find common ground, I believe we can nominate a person who can win the general election and who will represent the values and policies of conservatism," Romney said.

According to the source, Romney does not expect Rubio, Cruz or Kasich to emerge as the single candidate that can accumulate 1,237 delegates and outright defeat Trump before the convention. So the only way to rob Trump of a victory would be to keep him from reaching that magic 1,237 number.

Most Republican states allocate their delegates proportionally, or in a hybrid format that gives delegates both to the statewide winner and at the congressional district level. This means rather than winnowing the competition down to a single Trump alternative, it could make more sense for all of the current candidates to stay in the race for a stop Trump movement, according to one source.

In addition, two senior Republican Party insiders told CNN that the convention scenario is now dominating a lot of conversation in GOP fundraising circles. To be sure, both of these sources are skeptical about Romney being able to execute this plan, but both believe that there is a real attempt underway to try to do this.

In the meantime, they said to look for Republicans like Romney to continue to cast doubt on Trump's business record and to keep pushing for him to release his tax returns...

Keep reading.

PREVIOUSLY: "Republican Party Establishment Declares War on Donald Trump."