Trump is making history—starting with the Republican “massacre”

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump is making history again. With primaries taking place in Georgia, Mississippi, Washington state and Hawaii on Tuesday, he is expected to become the first Republican to win his party’s presidential nomination three times.

Once he passes the magic number of 1,215 delegates — more than 50 percent of those who will attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this summer — he will have achieved something beyond what Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower, or even Abraham Lincoln ever achieved. A feat imaginable.

But Trump is now also actively engaged in something else that the former Republican titan never considered: sending shockwaves through the Republican National Committee (RNC) by essentially co-opting it and turning it into his own personal An extension of “America Great Again.” brand.

The Republican National Committee — like its Democratic counterpart the Democratic National Committee — is the engine room of Republican politics. It organizes the party’s nominating convention every four years, oversees the writing process of the party’s electoral platform (the manifesto for each election cycle), and plays a vital role in raising funds for Republican presidential candidates and candidates running for seats in the House and House of Representatives. crucial role. Senates across the country.

Trump is now reshaping the Republican National Committee in his own image, purging more than 60 staffers, nearly a third of the organization’s staff, this week — a move that has been described as a “massacre.”

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Last month, Trump eliminated the RNC’s top brass when he forced Ronna McDaniel to resign as RNC chair.when she appointed to the position Recommended by Trump after the 2016 election, she was considered reliable and reliable despite being the niece of Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican moderate and prominent Trump critic. Loyal right winger.

But in the ensuing years, Trump pulled the party further to the right and replaced McDaniel with North Carolina Republican leader Michael Whatley. Whatley backed the former president’s false claims that President Joe Biden’s election victory was rigged.

Additionally, Trump created a role for his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump. She is now co-chair of the Republican National Committee, putting families at the heart of the organization.

First came the firing from the Republican National Committee According to Politicowhich included five senior staff members whose identities have not been revealed and targeted departments across the organization.

The move was partly for financial reasons. Lara Trump says she thinks the Republican National Committee’s payroll is too large and the organization is bloated.Last month, she pledged to build “the leanest, deadliest political fighting machine in American history” and vowed to spend “Every penny” Funding to secure her father-in-law’s return to the White House.

Sean Cairncross, the Republican National Committee’s new chief operating officer, told staff on Monday that the goal is to “make sure the building aligns” with “the vision of how to win in November.” Put more succinctly, Trump’s team wants to ensure that the RNC is “aligned” with his personal brand and is composed only of proven loyalists who have shown loyalty to him.

Trump’s plans are similar if he returns to the White House.If re-elected, he proposed Fire tens of thousands of civil servants, and replaced them only with Magga devotees. Members of his inner circle have publicly stated that Trump is determined to avoid accommodating anyone in power who disagrees with his views. Plans are underway to identify suitable pro-Trump candidates to fill thousands of positions.

The speed with which Trump has reshaped the Republican National Committee underscores his determination to allow no opposition in his campaign or future administration. He gave further insight into his thinking when he welcomed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to the Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday.

“He’s great…he’s doing a great job,” Trump said of the far-right strongman. “He was a non-controversial figure because he said ‘that’s the way it is’ and that’s the end of it. He was the boss.”

At the Republican National Committee, Trump is now the boss. As dozens of employees found out this week, it’s all over.