In fight over GOP, state parties stand as firewall for Trump
"How Trump Hopes to Use Party Machinery to Retain Control of the G.O.P."
By THOMAS BEAUMONT and NICHOLAS RICCARDI January 30, 2021
1 of 2 President Donald Trump arrives a section of the border wall near the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge in Alamo, Texas on Tuesday, Jan.12, 2021. (Delcia Lopez/The Monitor via AP)/The Monitor via AP)
Donald Trump has mused about forming a third party. But it’s unclear why he needs one.
Trump’s lock on the party apparatus is the result of a yearslong takeover of an institution he only loosely affiliated with before taking office. The effect amounts to a firewall protecting him and his far-right, nationalist politics from Republicans who argue the party needs a new direction if it wants to win elections.
“It’s come to the point where you have to be with him 100 percent of the time, or you’re the enemy,” said Dave Millage, a former Iowa lawmaker who was pushed out as Scott County GOP chairman after calling for Trump’s impeachment.
On Saturday, the South Carolina GOP will decide whether to censure Republican Rep. Tom Rice for his vote to impeach the former president. It’s a move meant to scar the five-term congressman for what many of his constituents considered a betrayal, said GOP chairwoman Dreama Perdue in Rice’s home Horry County.
In some cases, the state parties’ defense of Trump has exposed the extent to which disinformation, conspiracy theories and views once considered fringe have been normalized in the GOP.
In Oregon, the state party last week released a resolution passed by its executive committee that in part falsely alleged the Capitol attack was a “false flag” designed to embarrass Trump supporters. State parties in Hawaii and Texas have recently tweeted references to the QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims Trump is waging a secret battle against the “deep state” and a sect of powerful devil-worshipping pedophiles including top Democrats.
In other states, the rapid defense of Trump is notable for Republicans’ willingness to double down on Trumpism even after voters rejected it.
The Arizona state party Saturday reelected its controversial Trump loyalist chairwoman, Kelli Ward and censured Trump critics Cindy McCain, former Sen. Jeff Flake and even Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican Trump supporter who offended the party leadership by certifying Trump’s loss in the state.
In Washington state, several county party committees have called for the removal of the two House members who voted for Trump’s impeachment. Primary challengers have begun lining up to take on all 10 Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump.
Trump’s hold on state parties reflects the ex-president’s continued popularity with the base and the work his political operation has done to plant loyalists in the typically obscure local GOP apparatus. His re-election campaign focused heavily on packing state and county committees with devotees to avoid the spectacle of 2016, when many in the party’s machinery fought Trump’s nomination.
Chuck Coughlin, a Republican strategist in Arizona, said he is troubled by what Ward’s victory says about the party’s inability to shake Trump, the first Republican presidential candidate to lose the state since 1996.
Ward pushed for Trump to “cross the Rubicon” in challenging the results election, he said, a reference to Julius Caesar’s military push toward Rome that sparked a civil war and dictatorship.
“The party as it’s currently defined today, as the party of Trump, cannot win statewide elections in Arizona,” he said. “A smart party would try to figure out how to be more inclusive and not exclusive.”
“Literally, this is idol worship.”
But Trump brought in millions of new voters to the party with his populist approach. And Republicans should welcome those voters decision to stay involved, even when Trump is not on the ballot, argued Constantin Querard, a conservative Republican strategist in Arizona.
“Without Trump, some of them will go home, but some of them will stick around forever,” he said.
Republicans’ worry, however, is that the newcomers drive away other potential Republican voters.
Nearly 5,000 Arizona voters dropped their GOP voter registration in nine days after the Capitol attack, state figures show. In Pennsylvania, another state Trump lost, nearly 10,000 voters registered as Republicans had dropped their GOP affiliation as of Monday, according to state data.
On Wednesday, the Oregon state house Republican caucus distanced itself from the “false flag” claim in a statement and tried to shift attention to economic issues. “The election is over. It is time to govern,” said the statement, signed by 23 representatives.
“That’s the challenge in this period, can the state-level people rein it in?” said Christopher Nichols, director for the Center for Humanities at Oregon State University.
Trump’s hold on the party structure isn’t likely to ease soon. In many cases, supporters are elected to posts with multi-year terms and positioned to keep rising.
In Michigan, an establishment Republican fundraiser Ron Weiser is favored to become the next state party chairman. But to bolster his bid for the post, he picked a No. 2 with Trump credentials.
He chose Meshawn Maddock, a conservative activist who organized Michigan’s 19-bus delegation to the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally and has posted images of Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer altered to resemble Adolf Hitler.
If Weiser wins, Maddock will be next line for chairwoman in the battleground state. ___
Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.
New Michigan GOP chair under investigation by state elections bureau for ‘secret’ $200K payments
Updated Feb 08, 2021; Posted Feb 08, 2021
Ron Weiser in a 2017 file photo. Matt Weigand | The Ann Arbor News Thursday, June 15, 2017. Matt Weigand | The Ann Arbor News ANN ARBOR NEWS
By Samuel Dodge | sdodge@mlive.com
LANSING, MI - Michigan’s Bureau of Elections started an investigation into allegations that state Republican Party chair Ron Weiser used party funds to pay a Secretary of State candidate to drop out of a race in 2018.
In April 2018, McDaniel praised Trump as a "moral leader".[21]
Politico reported that after Trump endorsed Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore just days before the special Alabama Senate election, the White House influenced McDaniel to resume RNC funding for Moore, who lost in a narrow election to Democrat Doug Jones in December 2017. According to two people close to McDaniel, she privately complained about spending time and money on Moore's behalf. McDaniel was reportedly shocked by Trump's decision to endorse Moore but felt that she had little choice but to follow the president's wishes.[22]
In January 2019, Mitt Romney penned an editorial for The Washington Post criticizing President Trump's moral character. McDaniel said the editorial by her uncle, "an incoming Republican freshman senator", "feeds into what the Democrats and mainstream media want" and was "disappointing and unproductive."[23] In March 2019, McDaniel stated she would not support "the nicest, most moral person in the world" to be president if they were not "aligned with [her] politics".[24]
In May 2019, when House Representative Justin Amash became the first Republican member of Congress to call for Trump's impeachment, citing the evidence of obstruction of justice in the Mueller Report, McDaniel criticized Amash, saying he was "parroting the Democrats' talking points on Russia".[25] While she did not explicitly express support for a primary challenge against Amash, she tweeted, "voters in Amash's district strongly support this president."[26]
In September 2020, following the release of audio recordings from February 2020 where President Trump said he was intentionally downplaying the coronavirus, McDaniel defended Trump's handling of the coronavirus. She said, "history will look back on him well as how he handled this pandemic."[27]
False claims of fraud in the 2020 election
By May 2020, the RNC had allocated $20 million to oppose Democratic lawsuits to make voting easier during the coronavirus pandemic, in particular expanding vote-by-mail to states that had not adopted it previously.[28][29] McDaniel accused Democrats of trying to "destroy" and "assault" the integrity of elections.[30][29] McDaniel said, "a national vote by mail system would open the door to a new set of problems, such as potential election fraud."[28] According to Deseret News, "Election experts say while voting by mail can be abused, it's rare and inconsequential."[28] In general, research has found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States.[31]
In June 2020, McDaniel shared a RNC video warning about extensive voter fraud in the upcoming 2020 election due to expansions of vote-by-mail related to the coronavirus pandemic.[32] The Washington Post fact-checker wrote that the video "tortures the facts to create a narrative of an election about to be stolen. The illegality being satirized here is a phantom. State election officials, in many cases Republicans, are expanding vote-by-mail as a public health precaution to prevent the risk of spreading the coronavirus — not to rig the outcome."[32]
After Joe Biden won the 2020 election, McDaniel claimed without evidence that there was large-scale electoral fraud and voter fraud, and had the RNC promote falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the election.[33][34][35][36] At the same time that she was making baseless claims of fraud, President Trump endorsed her to continue to lead the RNC in the January 2021 RNC chair election.[3][37][36]
In April 2018, McDaniel praised Trump as a "moral leader".[21]
Politico reported that after Trump endorsed Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore just days before the special Alabama Senate election, the White House influenced McDaniel to resume RNC funding for Moore, who lost in a narrow election to Democrat Doug Jones in December 2017. According to two people close to McDaniel, she privately complained about spending time and money on Moore's behalf. McDaniel was reportedly shocked by Trump's decision to endorse Moore but felt that she had little choice but to follow the president's wishes.[22]
In January 2019, Mitt Romney penned an editorial for The Washington Post criticizing President Trump's moral character. McDaniel said the editorial by her uncle, "an incoming Republican freshman senator", "feeds into what the Democrats and mainstream media want" and was "disappointing and unproductive."[23] In March 2019, McDaniel stated she would not support "the nicest, most moral person in the world" to be president if they were not "aligned with [her] politics".[24]
In May 2019, when House Representative Justin Amash became the first Republican member of Congress to call for Trump's impeachment, citing the evidence of obstruction of justice in the Mueller Report, McDaniel criticized Amash, saying he was "parroting the Democrats' talking points on Russia".[25] While she did not explicitly express support for a primary challenge against Amash, she tweeted, "voters in Amash's district strongly support this president."[26]
In September 2020, following the release of audio recordings from February 2020 where President Trump said he was intentionally downplaying the coronavirus, McDaniel defended Trump's handling of the coronavirus. She said, "history will look back on him well as how he handled this pandemic."[27]
False claims of fraud in the 2020 election
By May 2020, the RNC had allocated $20 million to oppose Democratic lawsuits to make voting easier during the coronavirus pandemic, in particular expanding vote-by-mail to states that had not adopted it previously.[28][29] McDaniel accused Democrats of trying to "destroy" and "assault" the integrity of elections.[30][29] McDaniel said, "a national vote by mail system would open the door to a new set of problems, such as potential election fraud."[28] According to Deseret News, "Election experts say while voting by mail can be abused, it's rare and inconsequential."[28] In general, research has found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States.[31]
In June 2020, McDaniel shared a RNC video warning about extensive voter fraud in the upcoming 2020 election due to expansions of vote-by-mail related to the coronavirus pandemic.[32] The Washington Post fact-checker wrote that the video "tortures the facts to create a narrative of an election about to be stolen. The illegality being satirized here is a phantom. State election officials, in many cases Republicans, are expanding vote-by-mail as a public health precaution to prevent the risk of spreading the coronavirus — not to rig the outcome."[32]
After Joe Biden won the 2020 election, McDaniel claimed without evidence that there was large-scale electoral fraud and voter fraud, and had the RNC promote falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the election.[33][34][35][36] At the same time that she was making baseless claims of fraud, President Trump endorsed her to continue to lead the RNC in the January 2021 RNC chair election.[3][37][36]
Other controversies
Under McDaniel's leadership, the RNC set up a website in April 2018 which attacked and sought to undermine former FBI Director James Comey and called him "Lyin' Comey".[45] McDaniel said Comey was a liar and a leaker, and said that the RNC would "make sure the American people understand why he has no one but himself to blame for his complete lack of credibility".[45][46]
In late July 2018, McDaniel falsely[47][48] claimed that Twitter was shadow banning Republicans, including herself.[49] Twitter did not shadowban Republicans, but due to a glitch, several prominent conservative and left-leaning Twitter accounts were not automatically suggested in the site's drop-down search results.[50][51][49] Twitter responded, saying it would fix the bug.[52]
Politico reported in November 2018 that McDaniel called on the Republican candidate Martha McSally to be more aggressive during the ballot counting process in the Arizona Senate race. The Arizona Senate race remained undecided for several days after election night while all ballots were being accounted in a close contest.[53] McSally held a lead by the end of election night, but her lead narrowed over the next few days, as more ballots were counted.[53] Reportedly, the McSally campaign was being pressured from McDaniel for not being aggressive enough.[53][54][55]
On May 13, ProPublica reported that big RNC contracts were awarded by McDaniel to companies closely connected to her.[56] Contracts went to her husband's company and companies that supported her 2015 run for the chairmanship of the Republican Party in Michigan.[56] On October 18, 2020, McDaniel refused to condemn QAnon on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.[57]
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