The real estate mogul-turned-president made the suggestion during a Feb. 4 appearance on Fox News. It arose from a question by Maria Bartiromo, host of "Mornings by Maria" on the network, about McDaniel.
"You have to understand – I have nothing to do with the RNC; I'm separate," he said. "I think she did great when she ran Michigan for me. I think she did OK, initially, in the RNC."
Trump did a complete 180 with his subsequent remark, however. He told Bartiromo: "I would say right now, there will probably be some changes made." This incidentally contrasted with Trump's previous praise of McDaniel during the Republican Jewish Coalition in October last year, where he lauded her for doing a "fantastic job" leading the RNC.
In December, McDaniel signaled an intention to rally around Trump if he continues to dominate early caucuses and primaries. "If President Trump comes out strong tonight, that's a clear message being sent by our primary voters. Republicans know that if we're not united as a party behind our nominee, we won't be able to beat [President Joe] Biden," she said in a statement at the time.
Trump later won the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire GOP primary in January 2024, leading the RNC chairwoman to reiterate her desire to unite around Trump. According to NBC News, this was based on her assumption that the former would emerge as the GOP presidential nominee. (Related: New Hampshire goes to Trump, who's now slated for Republican nomination.)
"Every Republican has to agree that Biden is a threat to our country," McDaniel told Fox News after Trump's victories. "If we do not unite and if we don't coalesce to beat him, then we're not going to be successful in 10 months – where the Senate's at stake, the House [of Representatives] is at stake and the White House is at stake."
McDaniel's possible ouster comes amid poor RNC fundraising numbers
According to Axios, the RNC chairwoman's potential ouster comes as the committee reported the worst fundraising year in almost a decade in 2023. Based on its year-end filing with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the RNC raised $87.2 million in 2023 – but entered 2024 with just $8 million left in the bank.
In contrast, the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) year-end filing stated that it raised $119 million in 2023 and ended the year with $21 million on hand. "The DNC and Biden have built up a large money lead by leveraging the benefits of incumbency and hosting joint fundraisers with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris," noted Axios.
Some members of the RNC attempted to declare Trump the party's nominee back in December. Had Trump been declared the Republican presidential nominee, he would have gained full access to the committee's data apparatus and fundraising.
Moreover, McDaniel has faced criticism for publicly trying to push former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley out of the race to consolidate around Trump. Both the Trump campaign and the RNC did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by NBC News.
Despite the RNC's poor fundraising performance for 2023 under the leadership of McDaniel, it got a boost in January 2024 by raising $12 million. Anna Kelly, RNC spokeswoman, said of the achievement: "The RNC is not only raising the necessary funds, but we're making strategic investments early in battlegrounds to win up and down the ballot this fall."
Head over to VoteRepublican.news for more stories about the RNC.
Watch Grant Stinchfield explain why the RNC elected Ronna McDaniel as its chairwoman instead of Harmeet Dhillon below.
This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.
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