Donald Trump is tightening his grip on the Republican Party. Though the former president hasn’t officially become the GOP’s presidential nominee, he’s well on his way after dominating every primary, and he’s already moving toward consolidating power with the help of some of his loyalists.
Earlier this month, Trump endorsed North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley to replace ongoing Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel. He also plans to install his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as co-chair, and his campaign advisor, Chris LaCivita, will take the reins as the RNC’s chief operating officer.
These recent moves are raising alarm within the party, with some even worrying that the former president could bring the RNC to financial ruin by using its funds to pay his legal debts, which now exceed half a billion dollars.
“Trump is going to bankrupt the RNC,” says Jennifer Nassour, who’s a former party chair and surrogate of Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign. “And that is going to lie on the shoulders of every single party chair around the country that they did not take their fiduciary duty seriously.”
As Trump tries to assert dominance, here’s a look at why he’s trying to shake up the party and what the RNC is doing about it.
What’s changed lately at the RNC?
One of the biggest adjustments at the RNC is McDaniel’s departure, which Trump foreshadowed in an interview with Fox News on Feb. 4. When he was asked about McDaniel’s performance, the former president said, “I think she did great when she ran Michigan for me. I think she did OK initially in the RNC. I would say right now there’ll probably be some changes made.”
Just a few weeks later, McDaniel confirmed she would step down on March 8. “The RNC has historically undergone change once we have a nominee, and it has always been my intention to honor that tradition,” she said in a statement.
This marks a dramatic fall from grace for the longtime leader, who was first elected in 2017 as the second-ever female chair in the RNC’s 168-year-old history. McDaniel, who’s the niece of GOP Sen. Mitt Romney, was initially well-liked by those within the party, having won an unprecedented four terms. But things started to take a turn when she made it clear that the committee would stop covering Trump’s legal bills once he declared his 2024 candidacy, citing the organization’s commitment to neutrality in primaries.
Is Trump trying to use the RNC to pay his legal bills?
Fellow Republican presidential contender and rival Nikki Haley has accused Trump of wanting to take over the RNC in order to control its money during his various court battles.
“I don’t want the RNC to become his piggy bank for his personal court cases,” Haley said in an interview with CNN. “Now we see him trying to get control of the RNC so he can continue not to have to pay his own legal fees.”
These concerns are well-placed, as the RNC has covered Trump’s legal fees in the past. In both 2021 and 2022, the committee gave the former president roughly $1.6 million to cover his attorney fees, according to insiders including longtime RNC member Henry Barbour. But that barely scratches the surface: Two pro-Trump Super PACs — Save America and MAGA PAC — spent more than $50 million on his legal bills in 2023 alone.
For now, it’s unclear whether this will continue. When asked about whether the RNC would foot Trump’s bills, Lara Trump responded by saying that “every penny will go to making sure Donald Trump will be the 47th president,” but she also maintained that “his legal bills have already been covered at this point, even though they continue to grow.”
Some Republicans believe using RNC money for Trump’s court cases is unconscionable. “Speaking from a former party chair, I think it’s completely unethical and I cannot imagine that this does not border on fraud,” says Nassour, who chaired the Massachusetts Republican Party in 2009 and 2011. “When you take someone’s hard-earned money, they think that they are giving money to you to do something you say you’re going to do, but instead it goes to pay off your legal debts.”
How is the RNC responding?
While it isn’t out of the ordinary for a presidential nominee to take control of their party’s apparatus, Trump hasn’t officially won the designation just yet. But his campaign expects it to happen by March 19, which is just a few weeks after delegate-rich states like Texas and California head to the polls for Super Tuesday. That means he’ll have to continue to run against Haley, who has decided to stay in the race at least until Super Tuesday on March 5.
Former RNC chair Michael Steele, who has emerged as a key Republican Trump critic, has warned the party against investing in the former president prematurely. “By going all-in on its capitulation to Trump, the party of fiscal responsibility is making an atrocious investment,” he wrote in an op-ed for MSNBC. “It’s compounding the problems that it has already faced due to him. Since 2015, Trump’s rise has (predictably) led to a diminished Republican Party — financially, electorally, and in fidelity to conservative values.”
In response to Trump’s moves towards an overhaul, Barbour drafted two resolutions to slow down Trump’s takeover. The first one would ensure that the RNC would remain neutral throughout the GOP primary, “and not take on additional staff from any of the active presidential campaigns until a nominee is clearly determined by reaching 1,215 delegates.” The second would prohibit the committee from paying either Trump or Haley’s legal bills.
“I think the Trump campaign has jumped the gun on taking over the RNC before it has the requisite delegates,” Barbour told CNN. “I just think it’s important that we stand up and follow the rules.”
Unsurprisingly, the Trump campaign has already blasted the measures. “The primary is over, and it is the RNC’s sole responsibility to defeat Joe Biden and win back the White House,” LaCivita said in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “Efforts to delay that assist Joe Biden in the destruction of our nation. Republicans cannot stand on the sidelines and allow this to happen.”
Despite Trump’s condemnation, RNC members could vote on the pair of resolutions when they convene in Houston on March 7 and 8. And Haley has ramped up pressure on the committee to follow through on it, saying voters “deserve to know how the RNC is going to spend their money.”
“These resolutions are really important,” says Nassouri. “And the vote on them will be very telling on whether the party is going to have their best interests in mind for their states or if it’s just gonna bend over backward for the Trump machine.”
