The RNC doesn’t want Trump to announce that he is running for president as they are worried about the midterm.
It is as if the RNC feels almost imprisoned by its relationship with Trump. Who could possibly have predicted…
Some of us liberal lefties, influential or not, used to doubt that Trump actually wanted to be president again, had the willingness to put himself at risk in an election again, and had the health and stamina to do it all again. He was always going to pretend to be running the whole time because people send him free money so what he said or did never mattered. When it came time to “get in or get out” of Iowa, many of us figured Trump would bow out to be the crime boss of whoever won.
But given that the Justice Department could charge Trump with a crime at any point (It has a grand jury in South Florida looking at the Top-Secret files that wandered into Mar-a-Lago) and with the heat rising from the Committee, Trump surely wants to be a candidate so that he can say it is all political, all to stop him. And he definitely wants to be president again so he can put other people in jail rather than face it in his future. So, at this point, we’re all awaiting the date that Trump announces, which could be next year or this afternoon.
“We” includes the RNC and they aren’t looking forward to that announcement, either. The RNC has a problem. It has steadfastly committed to staying neutral and holding debates and primaries just as it did in 2016 and yet this is the same organization that pays Trump’s legal bills, they function as an independent contractor for tax purposes. Without Trump, they cannot effectively raise money. Were that not bad enough, Politico says that Trump will make remaining “neutral” sound “anti-Trump” and, well, there they sit, the enemy. You cannot be neutral and have a relationship with the great divider.
“I think Trump looks at the RNC as a wholly owned subsidiary and he should, they are nothing without him. He has all the base and all the money,” said a Republican operative close to Trump. “Neutral — how can they be neutral when he is not simply the main driver but the only driver?”
Well, good point. Maybe. If the RNC could create a truly neutral playing field by which every candidate starts in the same spot, Ron DeSantis and even the anti-MAGA alternative Chris Christie may be out there willing to test that “driver” theory. But, of course, you are what your bank account says you are and that throws the RNC back to who is driving:
Fundraising emails have been sent out by other potential candidates and prominent party surrogates, like former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but hardly with the same magnitude as those from Trump. The committee’s campaign email account has sent just one email under DeSantis’ name since 2021. So far, in July, it’s sent two from the name “Trump Social Media Alert.”
Yeah, income isn’t neutral.
And so that has the RNC terrified because the moment Trump announces, Trump will put maximum pressure on the RNC to support him, his base, and his money, and leave the RNC facing a choice: Dump neutrality and effectively dump even the appearance of being a “party.” Or, perhaps, stay neutral, get poor, infuriate the MAGAs, and worry that Trump starts his own party. And then there is Plan C, the one they don’t have yet.
Right now, the RNC and its members want to focus on a successful 2022. And they’d like Trump’s attention to stay there, too.
“The party has to be neutral and it will be neutral. I expect we will have plenty of people who will consider running because there’s going to be a huge opportunity but I think the key is going to be that we stay focused on 2022 and win the House and the Senate and that will set us up for getting the country back on the right track,” said Henry Barbour, a national committeeman from Mississippi.
Fair enough. Worry about it after 2022? Yes, that sounds good. Right up until Trump announces before the first week of November 2022, which sounds increasingly likely. The moment Trump announces, that neutrality and comfy “let’s worry about it later,” sounds ridiculous and irresponsible.
Who could possibly have predicted a scenario where the RNC loses control over the Republican party?
Jason Miciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, while also studying scientific philosophy, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact for speaking engagements or any concerns.