There’s a new team in town and the RNC is experiencing an overhaul. Trump has installed his leadership team. Monday the process of letting about 60 staffers go began.
The RNC staffers being let go are from the political, communications, and data departments. Five members of the senior staff are being asked to resign. Some vendor contracts are being cut.
Our colleague at Red State predicted this bloodbath on Friday.
VALIDATED – I reported on Friday that this would occur. https://t.co/zSxY5sm4ID pic.twitter.com/860mNR29Ea
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) March 11, 2024
Some staffers are being asked to resign but they can re-apply for other positions.
In a letter to some political and data staff, Sean Cairncross, the RNC’s new chief operating officer, said that the new committee leadership was “in the process of evaluating the organization and staff to ensure the building is aligned” with its vision. “During this process, certain staff are being asked to resign and reapply for a position on the team.”
Now that Ronna McDaniel is out of the way, Donald Trump’s hand-picked team includes Michael Whatley, the North Carolina GOP chairman, and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as RNC Co-Chairman. RNC rules require that the positions must include a male and female Republican. Chris LaCivita, a Trump adviser, will be chief operations officer. He is a longtime Republican strategist. He will continue to work with the Trump campaign. It looks like he is in charge of the overhaul at headquarters.
One of the people familiar with the firings said data, political and communications staffers were affected, and notifications were made on Monday by Chris LaCivita, a senior Trump adviser who was at the RNC’s Capitol Hill headquarters. LaCivita had complained about the staff of the RNC for several months, people who spoke to him said, and long planned to make changes. The Trump adviser had studied the organization’s payroll and employees for several weeks, the person said.
LaCivita also told some contractors that they would not be renewed, and some of the ousters included employees who worked in the campaign’s state offices. Some staff were described as shellshocked by the firings, which took place over the course of the day.
The goal is to streamline the organization and merge the Trump campaign with the RNC. Any employee who does not re-apply for a job will have their last day as March 31. The RNC voted in favor of the new leadership team on Friday during their Spring meeting.
An immediate focus is on raising money. “We have to raise a lot of money,” Lara Trump said Friday. The RNC is at a historical low on cash on hand. Democrats have a full coffer. As of the January finance filings, the RNC had $8.7M cash on hand while the DNC reported $24M cash on hand.
It isn’t unusual for the RNC to receive a shake-up when a new candidate is nominated for president. But Trump installed Ronna McDaniel in 2016. After many losses of what should have been winnable races, she received heat for not doing more to help Republicans win. This series of layoffs, though, is more severe than normal.
The general election in November is crucial for saving our country. I hope these are changes for the better because Republicans need to win, not just the presidency but also in down-ballot races.
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