Ronna Has Got To Go
This Saturday, the members of the Republican National Committee will vote to either give incumbent Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel a fourth term or go in a new direction with the national party leadership.
McDaniel was tapped by Donald Trump to run the RNC after the 2016 election and retained the backing of Trump in the following two elections despite a record that could not be deemed successful by any reasonable standard of measurement.
The GOP lost control of the US House of Representatives in 2018 during McDaniel’s first term and then lost the GOP majority in the US Senate and the White House two years later.
A more demanding RNC insisting on accountability and results would’ve sacked her after the 2020 elections but unsurprisingly the governing body of the nation party gave her another chance.
Truth be told, redeeming herself as chair should’ve been a slam dunk in 2022 with so many factors, from inflation to the lack of confidence people have in the country’s direction, that portended a Red Wave which would stop the Biden agenda in its tracks.
But the anticipated wave was more a puddle splash resulting in the Democrats actually picking up a seat in the US Senate and mustered no better than a slight GOP majority in the house that led to a marathon contest for speaker.
Historically, since the end of World War II the party not in control of the White House averages pickups of 26 seats in the US House of Representatives and 4 seats in the US Senate.
Using that standard, Ronna received an F in the Senate and not better than a D+ on the house side of Capitol Hill.
Perhaps McDaniel believes the fourth chance will be the charm or she’s become enamored with the title, as what happens with more than a few party leaders who could not win bids for public office and seek to cling on to their last shred of relevancy.
Either way neither is sufficient justification for reelection in light of her record.
However McDaniel, while unsuccessful in real world elections, has shown a knack for winning in the insider political realm, sending financial support to state parties and appointing political influencers to positions of prestige.
Take Tony Perkins, for instance.
The Family Research Center’s head was recently appointed by McDaniel to a Republican Party Advisory Council ostensibly created to study what happened in the 2022 midterms.
In truth it is a play to line up apologists to make the case for her unfathomable retention as Perkins did at a recent Louisiana GOP State Committee meeting where he credited McDaniel for having “grown” in the position.
McDaniel’s “growth” after six years of electoral setbacks is not relevant but how she has helped Republicans grow in numbers in Congress is.
This underscores the Beltway politics mentality that it’s always about the leader (title) and not the leadership (results).
McDaniel’s reelection will not instill confidence in the national Republican Party as the committee will have signaled to its already cynical base support of volunteers and donors their first loyalty is to the chair and not the party.
The Louisiana Republican State Central Committee adopted a resolution over Perkins’ objection calling for McDaniel’s ouster.
We’re going to see where the national committee‘s priorities are this week: concierge treatment at Republican events and photo ops or winning and defeating the militant leftist agenda being imposed upon American society.
McDaniel’s main challenger is Harmeet Dhillon, the national committeewoman from California. Dhillon has received praise for her challenge to McDaniel from numerous high profile conservative figures including Mark Levin and Tucker Carlson.
Dhillon should be the choice of the RNC members. That’s not just my opinion; it’s also Ron DeSantis’ take…
Either the RNC will hold McDaniel accountable this week or over the next year or two the various state committee members need to hold their representatives on RNC accountably.
