Donald Trump and his allies are strengthening their hold on the Republican National Committee (RNC) amid a growing rift in the party between those who back the former president’s election fraud claims and those hoping to move on.
An RNC vote last week to censure two GOP Trump critics, Reps. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) and Liz Cheney (Wyo.), as well as its description of the events of Jan. 6, 2021, as “legitimate political discourse,” sparked criticism from high-ranking members of the party.
But the vote also exposed the extent to which Trump’s most fervent supporters have consolidated power in the party’s highest echelon. Now, some Republicans fear the former president’s influence within the RNC could hamper efforts to recapture Congress in this year’s midterm elections and take back the White House in 2024.
“If Republicans want to have a strong election showing, they need to keep the focus on an unpopular president with an unpopular agenda,” said Doug Heye, a Republican strategist who served as the RNC’s communications director during the 2010 midterms.
“There’s this larger issue of taking your eye off the ball: an unpopular president who people feel is taking the country in the wrong direction.”
Heye said that during his tenure at the RNC, the committee’s “worst days were any days that we were the focus of a political news cycle,” because “it meant that we weren’t able to focus on Democrats that day or that week.”
“And that’s where the RNC finds itself right now,” he said.
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