Keep Ronna McDaniel at the RNC

A lot of people have asked me my concerns about the alternatives to Ronna McDaniel as RNC Chair. While I think the party should have fresh blood, I think, given the situation, Ronna McDaniel is preferable to the alternatives. I would recommend the RNC committeemen and women keep Ronna McDaniel as RNC Chair when they vote later this week. She’ll provide stability and powerful fundraising without drama.

Mike Lindell is a non-starter. He is as unserious as his claims to stolen elections. I see no reason to waste time on him.

Harmeet Dhillon is a serious challenger and a fine person. I don’t know her any better than I know Ronna McDaniel. I have never talked to either one.

My concerns are several.

First, let me tell you what my concerns are not. It is not that Dhillion is a Kamala Harris donor. That donation was in 2003 when both ladies were in San Francisco and, frankly, Harris was the law and order candidate. That is an unfair attack on Dhillion.

Likewise, Dhillion has at one point been pro-choice, but like a lot of Republicans, she has moved to be pro-life. In fact, she’s defended several prominent pro-lifers in court. Additionally, she once supported amnesty and has moved right on that issue too. She also seemed to think there were issues related to 2020 being stolen, but has recognized Joe Biden as the legit president and did not file any cases for Trump in 2020. Heck, just last year, she thought it was a dumb idea to get rid of Ronna McDaniel. We’ve both reversed positions on Ronna in opposite directions. I think we should not shut out people who have moved our way. If we had done otherwise, Trump would have never been the 2016 nominee.

I am concerned that Dhillion helped Caitlyn Jenner in the California gubernatorial recall instead of either Larry Elder or Kevin Faulconer.

The biggest concern I have is that Dhillion is working with Kelli Ward, Scott Presler, and Carolyn Wrenn.

I have, over the years, repeatedly criticized the RNC for surrounding itself with opportunistic mercenary consultants. To her credit, Ronna McDaniel has professionalized a good portion of the GOP operation and part of the criticism against her right now is from consultants who would cash in with an RNC that had its professional staff gutted.

McDaniel and that professional staff have turned the RNC into a fundraising powerhouse. Even Dhillion has praised McDaniel’s fundraising efforts and that is the number one job of the RNC Chair these days.

Again, my original and primary criticism of McDaniel was the win-loss record. But governors, senators, congressmen, and RNC committee members all tell me that the number one job is fundraising to help the presidential ticket. Dhillion, just yesterday, praised McDaniels’ fundraising skills:

“She's an important leader in the party,” Dhillon said, praising her fundraising skills. “She has a lot of skills and I'm sure she has things that could teach me.”

If the top job of the RNC Chair is raising money, who go with someone who says she’d need the existing Chair to teach her how.

Back to Ward, Presler, and Wren.

Kelli Ward may be the most unsuccessful GOP chair in the nation. She took the red state of Arizona and helped the Democrats win both Senate seats, the gubernatorial seat, and the Attorney General seat.

She’s one of Dhillion’s loudest champions against McDaniel. But McDaniel, unlike Ward, is a prolific fundraiser, not clinging to stolen election conspiracies, and able to unite a diverse array of Republicans. Ward backing Dhillion is troubling.

In 2022, Republicans around the country who lost were tied too much to the fringe of the GOP and the crazy. The Republicans who focused on the big issues won. The Republicans who clung to mythologies about 2020 lost.

Scott Presler has long been tied to the stolen election nonsense, going so far as to suggest Marco Rubio should be replaced if he did not object to the 2020 Electoral College.

Presler also publicly held that Governor Kemp in Georgia should be primaried. He pushed John Gibbs in Michigan against Peter Meijer. Gibbs lost and Meijer most likely would have kept that seat.

In fact, Dhillion has been critical of the GOP establishment involving itself in primaries, but Presler is committed to ousting Republicans in primaries.

Presler also spoke at an event that welcomed white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

Voters rejected politicians like that in November. It is why the GOP lost. Being surrounded by people like that at the RNC will just harm the party as it rebuilds. Unfortunately, Dhillion promised Presler would be one of the first people she hires if she wins the race.

Presler, however, is nothing compared to Carolyn Wren.

If the name sounds familiar, it is because she has been implicated in the lawsuit by the young man who claims he was assaulted by Matt Schlapp. She is noted for making the man’s name public and seems to enjoy outing an alleged victim who claims to be sexually assaulted.

Wren should be nowhere near the RNC, and that Dhillion has her on the team is the chief red flag.

Let me just put it to you this way. Would you trust someone who made money from Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump, the January 6th rally, Caitlyn Jenner, and McCain-Palin 2008?

While working for Trump’s campaign, Wren was accused of funneling money to Donald Trump, Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle. She also used her position to solicit Trump donors to cover the costs of a birthday party for Guilfoyle.

In fact, Trump’s finance staff begged for reassignment instead of working under Wren. Wren went on to work as a senior adviser to Kari Lake.

If that all isn’t problematic, Pro Publica reported Wren pushed for Alex Jones to be part of the January 6 rally in Washington. With judgment like that, it is best she be kept far away from the RNC.

My concerns with Hermeet Dhillion are about judgment as we head into 2024. We just came out of a year where Republicans who moved on from 2020 and focused on the issues that matter now actually won, including in New York and California.

Dhillion has surrounded herself with people still screaming about 2020 and who made money off the January 6 rally, and who wanted to primary Republicans ready to move forward.

We need to move forward. Ironically, the best way forward is with the one candidate for the RNC who is not anchored to a bunch of stolen election bitter clingers, and that is Ronna McDaniel.

The committee members of the Republican National Committee need to keep Ronna McDaniel as Chair to maintain the party’s integrity, stability, and fundraising capability and to put distance between the party and the election deniers of 2020.