[lesuorac]

I mean whats the point of a having a primary system if you're going to just have the guy that won it back down and appoint a successor?

Sure, the convention is the votes that actually matter just like the electoral college but every time the popular vote gets upset by the electoral vote people are mad.

[seanmcdirmid]

The primary and convention system have always existed in parallel. In fact, the USA doesn’t really have a primary system for presidents, just rules each state establishes on delegates should vote given the outcome of whatever happened in their state (and not all states have primaries of course, there are still caucus only state I think?). Even under a strict interpretation of the current system, the VP would take over the ticket if something happened to the president, so we aren’t even far off from that.

Conservatives are just going to have to deal with there already being a mechanism in here for nominating a candidate in a convention.