Noah Rothman has it right, in Commentary:

… With Trump facing unexpected resistance on his course to the nomination and the once fantastical hope of a contested convention looking increasingly realistic, Trump’s campaign has put a gun to the head of the Republican Party. The real estate mogul’s campaign advisors have warned that, if their candidate shows up to the nominating convention in Cleveland with a plurality of the delegates and the party denies him the nomination, his now weaponized supporters will “burn the place down.” The city of Cleveland has begun stocking up on riot gear and crowd-control equipment ahead of the convention.

These brutish intimidation tactics are having their intended effect on the majority non-Trump wing of the GOP. The fear of political violence from a thuggish mob is surely turning the stomachs of those on the right who are now urging preventative capitulation to Trump’s forces if no candidate amasses the delegate majority necessary to become the nominee.

Rothman goes on to advise that giving in to the threats will legitimize them and represent the takeover of the GOP by a violent minority.  Appeasing threats of violence tends to lead to bigger threats and actual violence in the long run.  I don’t know if it’s true everywhere and always, but in general, it’s better to stand up to threats as soon as they appear, while they’re still hints and before their makers are overly invested in the promise of violence.

If a majority of Republican delegates don’t want Donald Trump — that is, if they recognize that the Democrat-dominated news media that has given him so much free publicity will turn its attention to crushing him once he’s the nominee and that he’s a bullying con artist who would only advance the damage that President Obama has done to this country and the world if he does survive the onslaught — then they should follow the rules, and if those rules bring somebody other than Trump to the nomination, that’s the way it should be.  If Trump supporters resort to violence, then they aren’t activists, they’re thugs and criminals, and responsible patriots have to stand up to thugs and criminals, not give into them.

Funny thing about safeguard rules in political processes: Everybody agrees that they’re necessary to prevent odd circumstances from having dangerous results… until it turns out that their guy would be the dangerous result.