Recently Republican Party national committee Reince Priebus said that Republicans who intend to seek the party’s nomination in 2020, and who haven’t endorsed Donald Trump, may be penalized by the Republican National Committee. Political scientist Boris Heersink has this analysis in the Washington Post, explaining that the Republican national committee has no power to do that.

Even the Democratic National Committee twenty years ago did not have the ability to prevent Lyndon LaRouche from running in its presidential primaries (which he did in 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996). In 1995 the Democratic National Committee declared that LaRouche is not a bona fide Democrat, but that didn’t keep him off any presidential primary ballots. The DNC did pass a rule saying any LaRouche delegates who won presidential primaries would not be seated.