Lara Trump was endorsed by former President Trump, her father-in-law, to be co-chair of the Republican National Committee. Days ago, she said she believes GOP voters are interested in the RNC funding Trump’s legal bills, but according to Forbes, “it reported its lowest fundraising totals in 10 years.”
Lara Trump in South Carolina
Talking to South Carolina crowds before the primaries, Lara Trump, wife of Trump’s second oldest son Eric, commented on Trump’s endorsement, “I can assure you that my loyalty is to my father-in-law, and I will make sure that every penny is used properly.”
Working for the people
While many are alleging that Trump’s plan to take over the RNC will be nothing more than a way to get the organization to pay for his legal fees, Lara Trump declared that “people are furious right now. And they see the attacks against him. They feel like it’s an attack not just on Donald Trump but on this country. So, yeah, I think that is a big interest to people, absolutely.” She added, “Having someone like me in there, I think, will go a long way for people.”
Trump’s bills are “already covered”
“I think that you’ve already seen how upset the people of this country are — so much so that they started a GoFundMe page for my father-in-law because they can see just how egregious and outrageous all of this is that he has to deal with,” she said. “So I think he’s already got that covered,” Lara Trump said just a few days before the South Carolina speech.
Michael Whatley for the chair
Trump endorsed North Carolina Republican Party Chair Michael Whatley as the RNC chair. Trump said in a statement, “Michael has been with me from the beginning, has done a great job in his home state of North Carolina, and is committed to election integrity, which we must have to keep fraud out of our election so it can’t be stolen.”
Shaping the RNC
It was also announced that Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, could move to the RNC as chief operating officer. But, according to the FEC, the Democratic National Committee had nearly three times as much cash on hand at the end of 2023 compared to the RNC. This was confirmed by Forbes.
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel is likely stepping down
The New York Times broke the story that the current chair would be stepping down. There was no official confirmation, but soon enough, Trump started endorsing people to take over. Allegedly, there were conflicts between Trump and Daniel leading up to potentially shaking up the RNC months before the Republican National Convention.
“Anemic fundraising”
Molly Jong-Fast, a Vanity Fair correspondent, wrote for MSNBC that “anemic fundraising” was used as an excuse to oust McDaniel. But, as Jong-Fast writes, The Washington Post already wrote about the opinions of some of the donors, “These people want to win elections, not pay lawyers.”
Trump’s legal expenses
The former president owes approximately half of a billion in legal judgments. In the fraud case, the judge ordered him to pay around $350 million plus interest, or around $460 million. He also owes over $83 million to E. Jean Carroll in the defamation suit.
Will a takeover of the RNC help?
“if Lara Trump ends up being the co-chair of the RNC, she will inherit a fundraising mess,” writes Jong-Fast, pointing out that the RNC needs money, and replacing a chair would not make that job easier. The political analyst for MSNBC noted that Trump’s daughter-in-law must convince donors that paying for Trump’s legal fees will win the Senate and the Presidency.
Trump’s already using PACs
The AP previously reported that Trump’s Save America PAC paid “nearly $37 million to more than 60 law firms and individual attorneys” between January 2022 and October 2023. The Trump leadership PAC spent $2.9 million and “$1.8 million in new debts for legal fees owed to several firms” in January. But, Trump’s PACs faced some challenges.
Less unique donors
The Financial Times reported that Trump PACs gained donations from “fewer unique donors in the second half of 2023 than during the equivalent period in the 2020 campaign.” For Jong-Fast, it was more telling that Trump “entered the 2024 election year with about 200,000 fewer donors than in the previous presidential campaign four years ago,” also according to The Financial Times.
Willie Geist on the takeover
MSNBC’s Willie Geist told the “Morning Joe” panel that Trump’s “campaign and PACs are burning through money way faster than they’re raising it. Financially, this is a disaster that they appear to want to continue.” He added, “It is a family business. She’ll do whatever he says, just like Congress does what he says. She’s literally a member of the family.”
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