In her place, Trump is expected to promote Michael Whatley, chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party.
After years of criticism and a public spat with Vivek Ramaswamy, who said Republicans under her watch have become a “party of losers,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is stepping down.
According to the NY Times, which required four journalists, McDaniel has told former President Donald Trump that she’ll quit shortly after the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24, according to two people familiar with the plans (ah yes, ‘people familiar’).
In her place, Trump is expected to promote Michael Whatley, chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party – after which an election will take place.
McDaniel, the longest-serving chair since the 19th century, came under fire in January of 2023 after Republicans had terrible results going back to 2018.
“We’ve had three substandard election cycles in a row: ‘18, ’20, and ’22,” Florida Governor DeSantis told TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk in an interview. “Given the political environment of a very unpopular president in Biden, huge majorities of the people think the country is going in the wrong direction—that is an environment that’s tailor-made to make big gains in the House and the Senate and in state houses all across the country, and yet that didn’t happen.”
McDaniel also took barbs from attorney and GOP committee member Harmeet Dhillon, McDaniel’s primary challenger in the Jan. 2023 election for chair, telling Fox News: “But you know, at the end of the day, like I said, this isn’t school. You don’t get a gold star forever. You don’t get to stay in your job forever. If you continuously under perform what you promised your clients, they don’t hire you the next time around.”
In November, after the GOP lost several races that should have been layups, more people called for Ronna’s head.
“What, exactly, does Ronna McDaniel do, besides lose?” asked former Trump administration official Monica Crowley on X. “The only thing she SHOULD do is RESIGN. Effective immediately.”
“FIRE RINO RONNA MCDANIEL NOW!” tweeted Florida congressional candidate Anthony Sabatini, an Army veteran, adding “Ronna McDaniel will go down as the worst RNC Chair in history.”
McDaniel has also come under fire for picking NBC to host a November GOP debate – during which former 2024 presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy suggested she come up on stage and quit during said debate, as the GOP has become a “party of losers” under her watch.
“…there is a cancer in the Republican establishment… Since Ronna McDaniel took over as chairwoman of the RNC in 2017 we have lost 2018, 2020, 2022, no red wave, that never came.”
And then the haymaker…
“We got trounced last night in 2023 and I think that we have to have accountability in our party,” he went on.
“For that matter, Ronna if you want to come up on stage tonight. You want to look the GOP voters in the eye and tell them you resign… I will turn over my time to you.”
It took four months, but here we are.
