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March 29th, 2024

Insight

Trump White House be granted an active RNC

Ed Rogers

By Ed Rogers The Washington Post

Published April 3, 2017

The Washington Post had a story this week entitled, "Trump threatens hard-liners as part of escalating Republican civil war." It made me wonder: Why has the president himself had to take the point in the fight against inter-party opposition? Not that anyone can control the president's tweets, but where has the Republican National Committee's new chair, Ronna Romney McDaniel, been?


I was often critical of former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but President Barack Obama knew he could rely on support from the DNC when times got tough. Even if Wasserman Schultz's support was counterproductive at times, at least it was there. I give the now-exiled DNC chair her due. So where is the RNC?


The president's problems are the party's problems. But so far, McDaniel is taking a low-key approach in making that clear.


If you just do a quick Google News search for the past week, McDaniel's name only appears in a handful of articles -- one of which is in Chinese, another in Spanish.


As more and more reports highlight the president calling out the Freedom Caucus and other House Republicans who opposed the American Health Care Act, one wonders why tweets are in the headlines and yet pressure from the party leadership calling on Republicans to support the president's agenda is hard to find.

When pressed this week during a Michigan radio show interview about the Freedom Caucus's role in blocking Republicans' efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, McDaniel said the "president's going to work with them. We have to work with all Republicans. We've got to all come together and let our purpose unite us. The reality is, if we can't get things through in one group or one caucus, it is not helping to push the agenda that every Republican ran on, which was the repeal and replace of Obamacare. They are basically siding with the Democrats."


Well, that's nice. But why isn't that message, with a little more of a cutting edge, being splashed all over the airwaves and Internet?


And while we're at it, why did Katie Walsh, an RNC veteran and until yesterday, the president's deputy chief of staff, leave her post at the White House to work with America First Policies, an independent pro-Trump advocacy group, when it seems as though the RNC could use some help in organizing efforts to defend the president's policies?


Anyway, it's the RNC's job to protect and promote the president and the Republican brand and to take the lead in enforcing party discipline.

The RNC chair's voice is applicable in all areas where the president is being challenged, from opposition against the replacement health-care bill to the growing partisanship of the Russia investigation to the filibuster threat surrounding Judge Neil Gorsuch's nomination.


The list goes on. And theoretically, an RNC chair has the freedom to say things that aren't necessarily befitting of government officials who work at the White House.


To follow through on campaign promises regarding health care, tax reform and infrastructure development, the president will need all the support he can get.


I've worked around several RNC chairmen, at times when Republicans were in the White House and when they were not, so I recognize that it is still early in the administration and that it takes time for the media to gravitate to the chairman.


But the silence is still concerning.


It is time for the RNC to get in the game.

Ed Rogers is a a political consultant and a veteran of the White House and several national campaigns. He is the chairman of the lobbying and communications firm BGR Group, which he founded with former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour in 1991."


Previously:
03/20/17: In search of truth? GOP better not be baited
02/23/17: The 'deep state' is real. The 'alt right' is fake
02/17/16: The Trump presidency is not crippled
01/30/16: Politically illiterate Democratic celebs continue to embarrass themselves
01/13/16: Dems' opposition to Trump is lame, lazy and leaderless
12/21/16: The Russians weren't that good; the Obama administration was that bad
09/19/16: Trump's economic plan is a good start
07/26/16: Hillary faces three challenges that are unique to her and to this era in modern politics
06/15/16: The Obama administration starts work to save Hillary's hind
06/01/16: The long lines at airports are a problem for Hillary Clinton
05/23/16: Three reasons Bernie Sanders should stay in the race
05/17/16: Obama calling the kettle black
03/29/16: Can we talk about Ted Cruz?
03/10/16: After Tuesday's results, all eyes are on Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell

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