Officially, the Republican National Committee was neutral in the race for the party’s presidential nomination. This did not please Donald Trump, who assumed that the RNC would simply act as an appendage to his political operation, but on paper, the national party organization did not take sides.
That is, until now.
Before polls even closed in New Hampshire, the party provided NBC News with a statement from RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel about her perspective on the race.
“The Republican primary is up to the voters, and we’ve never had a Republican nominee who did not win at least Iowa or New Hampshire. If President Trump comes out strong tonight that’s a clear message being sent from our primary voters. Another message we’re hearing is unity — from President Trump, Governor DeSantis, and Senator Scott. Republicans know that if we’re not united as a party behind our nominee, we won’t be able to beat [President Joe] Biden. That’s why we had our candidates sign the Beat Biden pledge to be on our debate stage — unity is key.”
The statement did not literally call on former Ambassador Nikki Haley to exit the race — in fact, the statement didn’t even reference Haley by name — but the message wasn’t subtle. As far as McDaniel was concerned, if the former president won the New Hampshire primary, the race for the party’s nomination was over.
Hours later, after Trump prevailed in New Hampshire by about 11 points, McDaniel went on Fox News and took the next logical step, publicly urging Haley to quit, claiming that the party “can’t wait any longer.”
Or put another way, a whopping two states have held nominating contests, and for the RNC, that’s plenty.
What McDaniel has effectively concluded is that the shortest nominating contest ever — one caucus and one primary — is enough. Sure, Republican voters in other states could weigh in, too, but the RNC would prefer they not bother.
As recently as a couple of months ago, a source close to the former president told CNBC that Trump had grown “increasingly sour” on the RNC chairwoman he chose for the role. McDaniel’s latest comments will no doubt help her find her way back into his good graces.