The Republican National Committee is already a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump Organization. And yet, the former president is taking steps to make it even more so.
To start, he has officially endorsed his candidate in the race to replace soon-to-resign Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel. It is North Carolina Republican Party Chair Michael Whatley, who, as we noted yesterday, had clearly emerged as the favorite. He's an election denier, and so aggressively kowtows to the Donald that he (Whatley) is at risk of breaking his neck if Trump turns a corner too fast. If you thought McDaniel was the gold standard in pandering to Trump, you were wrong.
Even more interesting than Trump's endorsement of yet another lackey, however, is his preferred candidate for co-chair. It's... Lara Trump, who just so happens to be his daughter-in-law. "Lara is an extremely talented communicator and is dedicated to all that MAGA stands for. She has told me she wants to accept this challenge and would be GREAT!" It's really remarkable how many people are brilliant when they are speaking to Trump, and yet come off as nitwits to pretty much everyone else. Wonder why that is...
To us, at least, it seems pretty clear what's going on here. Putting a Trump in charge of the RNC, in one fell swoop (and replacing a Romney, no less), was probably half a bridge too far. Even the members of the RNC might have rebelled at that. But they'll probably go along with making Lara Trump the #2. Then, Whatley will jump around like a trained monkey trying to keep The Donald happy. And if he fails, or if and when Trump grows tired of him, then everything will be in place to elevate Lara to the top job. Our guess is it won't take 7 years to make the next big move, either, the way it did with McDaniel. (Z)