Donald Trump decides to take down the Republican National Committee with him
Armed with the certain knowledge that Donald Trump will be handcuffed and taken into an awaiting police car the minute he’s no longer president, his reelection team is taking drastic steps to try to keep him in the Oval Office. Banking on the dubious notion that a sitting president cannot be indicted, the Trump team is planning to roll out an unprecedented structure for his 2020 reelection, a streamlined organization that incorporates the Republican National Committee and Trump’s campaign into a single entity.
This is a draconian departure from the usual procedure. Traditionally, a presidential reelection committee works in concert with the national party committee, it doesn’t swallow it. With its new approach the Trump campaign will be much more difficult to derail by a competing Republican candidate.
Once it’s fully owned by the Trump reelection machine, the RNC will be shackled to Trump, virtually incapable of selecting a different candidate. This means the power, influence and, above all, money available to the RNC, will all go exclusively to Team Trump. To say the least, this strategy has not been met with universal approval. “There are some people who choose, for whatever reason, to handcuff themselves to the Titanic,” said John Weaver, an adviser to Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is considering challenging Trump in the Republican primary. “Why, I have no idea.”
As Trump’s only goal is to cling to power to stay out of prison, he naturally has no regard or concern for the devastation a second term of office will visit on the country. As long as he gets to continue to pretend to be president, lie about his “achievements” and play golf without the inconvenience of having to go to jail, he will be happy. Naturally, linking the party exclusively to the most disastrous “president” in history may prove unwise, as it could ultimately lead to the downfall of the Republican Party itself. It’s difficult to figure out how the end of the GOP could be a bad thing.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.