Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:46 pm
Much has been written both here and on other sites about the transformational nature of (roughly) the last two weeks in the life of the Republican party. its de facto leader (still), Donald Trump and de jure leader Rhona McDaniel. Only one month ago, it seemed that the GOP was destined to easily sweep the House, likely take the Senate, set about investigating and impeaching Joe Biden (a given, they’ll find a crime later). Things look a little different today.
Within the same two weeks, we learned about the fake Electoral College votes. Donald Trump actually let the truth slip out for once and admit that January 6th was primarily about getting VP Pence to somehow overturn the election either directly or by sending certificates back to states. And the RNC met, censured Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger while referring to January 6th as “legitimate political discourse.”
Those massive mistakes, combined with evidence continuing to slip out regarding Trump and his staff’s actions post-election, some great economic news on the jobs front, and Biden taking a firm hand internationally, against Russia, and things look entirely different.
If one doubts it, one can ask some of the Republican politicians about how they feel regarding how the RNC handled their meetings in Salt Lake City, meetings that had to deal with the entire dynamic. The pols need someone to blame and Rhonna McDaniel has become the lightning rod.
According to CNN, many have been quite open in their criticism of the censures and the January 6th debacle:
From John Cornyn, one of the cooler heads in the GOP: “I think Republicans ought to stop shooting at Republicans, including the chairman.”
Senate GOP Whip John Thune (R-SD) said, “it’s just not a constructive move, when you’re trying to win elections and take on Democrats, to take on Republicans. It’s just not helpful.”
Behind closed doors, Republicans reached out to the niece of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT). Even her uncle wasn’t happy.
“It could not have been a more inappropriate message,” Romney said. “Anything that my party does that comes across as being stupid is not going to help us.”
Rhonna McDaniel should likely lose her job, a fact near inevitable in her near future. Whether the Republicans want that kind of shake-up before November is an open question. But without regard to anything that happened at the RNC meetings or anything the RNC does, the problems obviously begin and center around Donald Trump and the fact that the party tied itself to him, for better or worse, as the investigations continue.
The politicians can and should criticize McDaniel, but she is primarily being used as a proxy and no one is fooled. McDaniel will play a minor role in the GOP’s 2022 fate. Ultimately, it will come down to how Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Mike Pence address the next four months that will really set the tone for November.
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