Ronna McDaniel Continues On As GOP Chair!

The Republicans want new blood and what they got was Ronna.

Republicans feel comfortable with Ronna Romney McDaniel, the embattled chairwoman of the far right political party.

Under her wing, Republicans lost the House in 2018, lost the Senate in 2020, lost the 2020 presidential election with Washed Up 45, lost some special elections, gained governorships in Virginia in 2021 and Nevada in 2022 but lost Arizona, Maryland and Massachusetts, barely won the House in 2022, lost numerous senate races many Republicans felt were easy pickings and have lots of depleted funds from donors who are scared that the party isn't focused.

Ronna carries on. 

The Republicans are fuming that the party has no clear agenda to take on President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.

Frustrated Republicans from state capitals to Capitol Hill to the luxury Southern California hotel where RNC members gathered this week are at odds over how to reverse six years of election disappointments. And while there are many strong feelings, there is no consensus even among the fighting factions about the people, policies or political tactics they should embrace.

On one side: a growing number of elected officials eager to move beyond the divisive politics and personality of Washed Up 45 despite having no clear alternative. And on the other: the GOP’s vocal “Make America Great Again” wing, which has no cohesive agenda yet is quick to attack the status quo in both parties.

“It will be extraordinarily difficult, if not near impossible, for Ronna McDaniel to put the pieces back together,” said Republican fundraiser Caroline Wren, a leading voice in the coalition of far-right activists, conservative media leaders and local elected officials across the country who fought and failed to defeat McDaniel. “These people are not just going to forget.”

Indeed, as RNC members packed up from the Waldorf Astoria ballroom Friday, there was broad agreement that McDaniel’s reelection alone would do little to heal the gaping divide that plagues their party, even as she celebrated a notably decisive reelection victory.

Washed Up 45 quickly congratulated McDaniel on his social media platform after privately helping her campaign. But conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a Washed Up 45 loyalist, likened McDaniel’s successful reelection to a “middle finger” for the GOP’s grassroots who demanded change at the institution that leads the party’s political activities.

“The country club won today,” Kirk said from the back of the Waldorf Astoria ballroom where RNC members from across the country voted to give McDaniel another two-year term. “So, the grassroots of people that can’t afford to buy a steak and are struggling to make ends meet, they just got told by their representatives at an opulent $900-a-night hotel that, ‘We hate you.’”

A similar sentiment roiled the Republican Party earlier in the month on Capitol Hill as Kevin McCarthy struggled through days of embarrassing defeats in his quest to become House speaker before acquiescing to the demands of the anti-establishment MAGA fringe.

McCarthy’s inability to control the hardline Washed Up 45 loyalists in his conference now threatens to undermine a high-stakes vote on the nation’s debt limit that could send shockwaves through the U.S. economy if not resolved soon. So far, House Republicans haven’t articulated a specific set of demands.

Some see the Republican divide as a byproduct of the GOP’s years-long embrace of Trumpism, a political ideology defined by its relentless focus on a common enemy and a willingness to fight that perceived foe no matter the cost.

McDaniel has repeatedly highlighted the perils of GOP infighting as she campaigned for an unprecedented fourth term as RNC chair. On Friday, she pleaded for Republican unity while citing a Bible verse once used by former President Abraham Lincoln before the Civil War.

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand,’” McDaniel said from the ballroom podium. “Nothing we do is more important than making sure that Joe Biden is a one-term president. But in order to do that, we have to be unified.”

It may get worse before it gets better.

The conclusion of the RNC’s winter meeting marks the unofficial beginning of the 2024 presidential primary season. Washed Up 45 has already launched his candidacy and promises to wage a fierce campaign against any would-be Republican competitors.

The RNC is in the process of scheduling the first Republican presidential primary debates, which will likely take place in Milwaukee, the site of the party’s next national convention, in late July or early August.