On the one hand: A growing number of elected officials are eager to move beyond the divisive politics and personality of former President Donald Trump, even though there is no clear choice. On the flip side: The Republican “Make America Great Again” voice, without a cohesive agenda, but quick to attack the status quo on both sides.
“Putting the pieces back together for Ronna McDaniel will be very difficult, if not nearly impossible,” said Caroline Wren, a Republican fundraiser who fought but failed to defeat McDaniel Country. “These people don’t forget.”
Indeed, as RNC members packed their bags from the Waldorf Astoria ballroom on Friday, it was widely believed that McDaniel’s reelection alone would do little to bridge the deep divisions plaguing their party, even as she celebrated an apparently decisive reelection victory .
After privately helping McDaniel campaign, Trump was quick to congratulate her on his social media platforms. But conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a Trump loyalist, likened McDaniel’s successful reelection to the “middle finger” of the Republican base, which has demanded changes to the institutions that lead the party’s political campaign.
“The country club won today,” Kirk said from the back of the Waldorf Astoria ballroom as RNC members from around the country voted for another two-year term for McDaniel. “So, grassroots people who can’t afford a steak and are struggling to make ends meet, their rep just told them in a $900-a-night luxury hotel, ‘We hate you.'”
Similar sentiments roiled the Republican Party on Capitol Hill earlier this month, as Kevin McCarthy suffered an embarrassing few days of defeat in his bid to become Speaker of the House before acquiescing to demands from the fringes of the anti-establishment MAGA.
McCarthy, unable to rein in hardline Trump supporters at his conference, now threatens to derail a high-stakes vote on the national debt ceiling, which could send shockwaves through the U.S. economy if not resolved soon. So far, House Republicans have not articulated a set of specific demands.
Some see the GOP’s divisions as a byproduct of the party’s years of embracing Trumpism, a political ideology defined by a relentless focus on a common enemy and a willingness to fight that enemy at all costs.
McDaniel has repeatedly stressed the danger of Republican infighting as he campaigns for an unprecedented fourth term as RNC chairman. On Friday, she called for Republican unity when she cited a Bible verse once used by former President Abraham Lincoln before the Civil War.
“Every kingdom that contradicts itself will go to desolation, and every city or house that contradicts itself will fail,” McDaniel said from a ballroom podium. “Nothing we do is more important than securing a one-term presidency for Joe Biden. But in order to do that, we have to come together.”
It can get worse before it gets better.
The conclusion of the RNC winter meeting marks the unofficial start of the 2024 presidential primary. Trump has launched his candidacy, promising to launch a fierce campaign against any potential Republican rivals.
The RNC is scheduling the first Republican presidential primary debate, likely in late July or early August in Milwaukee, home of the party’s next national convention.
He has been slow on the campaign trail since announcing his 2024 bid in November, but Trump held events this weekend in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Sensing the former president’s political vulnerability, as many as a dozen prominent Republicans are expected to come out against him in the coming months.
Trump has floated the possibility of a third-party bid for the presidency if he fails to secure the Republican Party’s next nomination, which would all but ensure Democrats win the White House again in 2024.
New Hampshire-based RNC member Juliana Bergeron reflected on the state of her party as she prepared to take a red-eye flight home for Trump’s appearance on Saturday. The New Hampshire GOP is grappling with its own bitter leadership feud.
“The party in New Hampshire is divided. The party is divided nationally. I just think there’s a lot of room between the far right and the rest of us,” Bergeron said.
“I think it’s over,” she said when asked about Trump. “I want to see a new generation there.”
And there are some signs that Trump’s MAGA campaign may be ready to move on, too. Some have privately acknowledged that Trump has lost control of his own campaign, which defeated McDaniel despite attempts by the former president and his deputies to help her.
While Trump declined to publicly endorse McDaniel, Wren said that even if he did, it would not change the grassroots demand for new leadership in the Republican Party.
“We’re not just sheep following a single endorsement everywhere,” Wren said. “We wanted to win the election, but we didn’t win the election.”
In fact, Republicans may need a successful national election to unite again. The next national election? November 5, 2024.
“Start working now to bring our party together,” said Reince Priebus, a former Republican National Committee chairman who backed McDaniel’s re-election and Trump’s former chief of staff. “It’s not going to be easy.”
