Dem
51
GOP
49
Donald Trump now formally controls the Republican National Committee. Trumper Michael Whatley is the chairman and Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is vice chair and enforcer, to make sure Whatley focuses entirely on electing Trump. This new arrangement could actually help the Democrats because: (1) the RNC may now ship millions of dollars off to Trump's lawyers, (2) big donors may flee, and (3) the RNC may not put much money into down-ballot races. On the other hand, both Whatley and Trump are from North Carolina, a key swing state, and both of them presumably will go all out to try to deliver the state to Trump. Whatley has already talked about hiring poll watchers and lawyers in North Carolina in order to win the state.
Even having a Trumpy election denier as chair and his daughter-in-law as co-chair wasn't enough control for Trump, so he got the RNC to appoint Chris LaCivita, a top Trump campaign adviser, as chief operating officer. LaCivita will handle operations, strategy, and spending. Thus the RNC is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump Organization. Maybe Letitia James can seize it and auction it to pay off Trump's judgments. If the DNC bids $1 and is the only bidder, it could get it and keep all the incoming donations.
One thing the new leadership team needs to do is focus on fundraising. As of the end of January, the RNC had $9 million in the bank compared to the DNC's $24 million. But, as noted, fundraising could be tricky if big donors are not happy with their money being funneled to Trump's defense lawyers, rather than to Republicans running for House and Senate seats.
On the way out the door on Friday, Ronna Romney McDaniel said: "We cannot put our heads in the sand and ignore abortion and the Dobbs decision." However, she didn't say what the RNC's position on abortion should be. If it is not "a zygote is the same as a baby and killing one is murder," the base will freak out. But if that IS the RNC's position, it does not play well with young people, women, or independents. (V)