Poor Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna McDaniel. Nobody has debased and humiliated themselves more chasing the approval of Donald Trump. McDaniel even went so far as to change her name from Romney McDaniel to just McDaniel because Trump despises her uncle Mitt. But it didn't really do her any good in the end because like so many others before her, loyalty and Trump are a one way street and he has decided that he's done with her.
In some ways you can't blame him.The RNC is a mess. The Federal Election Commission released its year end fundraising reports and they showed that the RNC had its worst fundraising year since 2013 only managing to take in $87.2 million in 2023. According to Fox News, "if adjusted for inflation, the RNC's fundraising was last this low in 1993 — before the 2002 McCain Feingold Act restricted political committee fundraising from corporations and capped donations from individuals." They started off this year with just $8 million in cash. That's bad. To make matters worse, the Democrats raised three times as much last year and are rolling in the dough.
This isn't really McDaniel's fault, however. The reason they can't raise any money is because Trump is hoovering it all up for his campaign and his Super PACs which are paying his voluminous legal expenses. In addition, the GOP primary candidates have all been spending like drunken sailors on their doomed campaigns, further consuming cash which might have gone toward national party building.
The Republican Party is actually in disarray all over the country. There are battles royale going on in various states over who controls the party apparatus and controversies over spending. The swing states, Arizona, Michigan and Nevada are among them and they are very important to Trump's presidential ambitions.
But McDaniel is out because Trump wants to totally control the RNC with MAGA purebreds, which he has never considered McDaniel to be. After all, she was a Romney. So on Tuesday, he endorsed a couple of new co-chairs, who he assumes will be elected without debate. He named Michael Whatley, the head of the North Carolina GOP and current RNC general counsel, and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, wife of Eric, to run the party for him.
Whatley is a true blue, "Stop the Steal" election denier who's been sowing mistrust in the electoral system for many years. In fact, it's what he's known for which explains why he and Trump are so sympatico. (That, and the fact that Trump apparently thinks he can get the RNC to start picking up some of his legal bills again with Whatley in charge.)
Just in case you were wondering if the RNC was going to maintain even a shred of independence, Trump is also expected to install his campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, as RNC Chief Operating Officer where he will continue to do both jobs. He might as well rename it the Trump Organization.
But what about Lara Trump whose desire to be a "star" is so overweening that you'd think even Donald Trump would cringe in embarrassment. (In fact, according to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump and the rest of the family mocked her for years.) But she is family and she wants desperately to be in the middle of everything so it seems he finally found a slot for her.
Lara Trump has done everything possible to leverage her Trump name into fame but it just never seems to work. She doesn't have the moneyed glamour of Ivanka or Melania and neither does she have the crude brazenness of Don Jr's girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle. But she tries, oh how she tries.
Lara had ambition to be in showbiz originally, but only went as far as associate producer on Inside Edition before quitting to join the campaign in 2016. She became a paid adviser on the 2020 campaign proving that she's a true Trump (just like Melania, who was paid $155k by the Super Pac for a speaking engagement on behalf of her husband.) Sure, most family members do that sort of thing as volunteers but the Trumps never leave a nickel on the sidewalk.
In 2021 Fox News hired her as a regular contributor, a real dream come true. She was finally on TV. Unfortunately, they said they had to let her go at the end of 2022 once Trump announced his run for president. They did say she was welcome to appear in an unpaid capacity as a campaign surrogate which basically means they knew she'd be paid by the campaign again and didn't feel as if they should have to do so too. It's not as if her commentary changed in any way.
Since then she's been spending a lot of time putting out strange Instagram videos which seem more like auditions for the Real Housewives of Mar-a-Lago.
Lara Trump just posted this video. Of herself. pic.twitter.com/QiQE21GwqO
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 7, 2022
Lara Trump & the MAGA Barbies pic.twitter.com/38mNaXKul4
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 1, 2023
And podcasting, of course:
Lara Trump says she is willing to be Trump’s running mate if asked: “Obviously, the answer would be yes. Would anyone turn that down? The only drawback would be that I would have to move to DC. If I became VP alongside my father-in-law just imagine the hysteria!” pic.twitter.com/NA0ajLKXtf
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 21, 2023
And then she decided she really wanted to be a singer, like Taylor maybe, because she's just that good. She released a single:
Initially I thought this was a goof. Now I’m beginning to think Lara Trump actually thinks she has talent and will be doing a World Tour soon. pic.twitter.com/znIbui9ZNs
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 19, 2023
Being a Trump she naturally complained that the system was rigged and her song had been "shadow banned" on all the streaming platforms because it was "too political" to explain why it was getting no play. She went on Hannity to complain: “It’s really sad, because this is the kind of treatment that I think conservatives are used to. We’re used to being censored, we’re used to being shadow-banned." Let's just say, social media was not kind:
One person said: “Now would be the ideal time for Lara Trump to back down”.My ears have been violated,” another said. A third person tweeted: “I can never un-hear this. It is fitting for Halloween as it’s one of the creepiest cringy things I’ve ever seen.” While another Twitter user begged: “Please don’t make us listen to more.”
The Tom Petty estate has demanded that Trump stop playing his song at his rallies but I'd guess he'll be playing Lara's version and paying her for it as well. That's how the Trumps roll. They always get a taste.
So now Lara's got herself a new gig. It's not as glamorous as she might have liked but she'll be able to pretend to be important even if all the power will really be in the hands of Whatley, who is actually a political professional.
She's off to a great start. I'm sure all the GOP office holders and candidates are thrilled to hear what the Trump RNC agenda for 2024 will be:
Lara Trump says if she is elected as co-Chair of the Republican Party, “every single penny” of party funding will be spent toward Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/zYh6Nayyjy
— DNC War Room (@DNCWarRoom) February 14, 2024
Of course it will be.
