Chair Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump move to reorganize the party, with an expected cull of 60 members
Donald Trump’s new leadership team at the Republican National Committee started the process of ousting scores of staffers on Monday night, clearing out its ranks as they prepare to bring the committee under the wing of the Trump 2024 presidential campaign, sources familiar with the matter said.
The RNC is expected to cull about 60 people across the political, data and communications departments. At least five members of the senior staff will be let go and some third-party contracts may also be cancelled. One source familiar with the situation described it as an “absolute bloodbath”.
In ousting large swathes of the RNC, the new chair Michael Whatley and the new co-chair Lara Trump – the former president’s daughter-in-law – moved to reorganize the Republican party’s central committee to fall squarely behind the Trump campaign just days after they were formally elected.
No, I don’t recall the entire leadership of the party changing when the nominee for President is firmed up. Normally, the party committee’s job is not to get any one person elected, it’s to organize the fund raising and spending efforts to give the party the best shot at all the major races, from President to Congress to Governors and State Legislators. Since the President is the biggest job on the ticket, you always expect the party leadership to back their nominee, of course. But I don’t recall changes this major this close to the convention.
This is likely an attempt to make sure the RNC pays his legal bills, and doesn’t move to abandon him, even if he gets convicted.