The common rejoinder I hear is that the will of the people will have been thwarted if Trump wins the most votes, but is not the nominee. This is pure and simple nonsense. There is no expression of the “people’s will” with a plurality of the vote, especially when it is somewhere in the 30 percent range (as Trump’s is)…

What the Republican rules provide for is an acknowledgement that second and third choices are important in fractured fields. So you take your first vote and if no one has a majority, there are opportunities for delegates to throw their support to other candidates, if it is clear that their man (apologies to the Carly Fiorina delegate) cannot be the nominee.

Remember, these rules were created in a situation where the barriers to entry in a presidential race were fairly minimal: There were no primaries, fundraising was minimal, and major campaigns weren’t required. This isn’t to say that there was no “invisible primary,” only that it was minimal. So they were designed to manage large, competitive fields, which we’re beginning to see re-emerge as the rise of super PACs and Internet fundraising weakens party control of races.