Bloodbath RNC: Trump team fires committee employees
According to two individuals with close ties to both the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, Donald Trump‘s recently appointed leadership team at the RNC started the process of removing scores of officials on Monday.
It is anticipated that around sixty RNC employees who are employed in the political, communications, and data departments will be let go. Five senior staff members are among those being requested to quit, though their identities have not been disclosed. It’s also anticipated that some vendor contracts will be terminated.
The RNC’s new chief operating officer, Sean Cairncross, wrote a message to some of the staff members dealing with politics and data, stating that the committee leadership was “in the process of evaluating the organization and staff to ensure the building is aligned” with its mission. “Some employees are being asked to resign and reapply for a position on the team during this process.”
The goal of the revamp is to reduce the RNC’s “bureaucracy,” as one person put it. However, the action also highlights how quickly Trump’s team is taking control of the Republican Party’s operations following the former president’s near-certain victory in last week’s primary.
On Monday, the RNC was operationally taken over by Trump’s campaign. The RNC picked Michael Whatley, a former chair of the North Carolina GOP, as its new chair on Friday. Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, was chosen as co-chair. Trump had endorsed both. Furthermore, Chris LaCivita, a top campaign aide to Trump, was appointed as the new head of staff of the RNC.
Whatley is taking over for Ronna McDaniel, who left the position last week after holding it for more than seven years. Although Trump and McDaniel had been longtime allies, the former president had recently lost interest in the chairman because he believed she was not doing enough to address concerns relating to “voter integrity” and because she was hosting Republican primary debates, which he declined to take part in.
The RNC’s structure, according to Trump advisors, is unduly bureaucratic and bloated, which they believe has led to the party’s financial difficulties. By the end of December, the RNC’s cash was only roughly one-third that of the Democratic National Committee, at $8 million.
The Trump campaign is hoping to combine its activities with the RNC under the new arrangement. Crucial divisions like fundraising, data, and communications will essentially function as a single unit.
