The five GOP candidates have been invited to The Family Leader’s “Thanksgiving Family Forum” on November 17,
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has warned the 2024 presidential candidates against attending a Christian organisation;s Thanksgiving forum, saying it would disqualify them from participating in future debates.
The five candidates — former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott — have been invited to The Family Leader’s “Thanksgiving Family Forum” on November 17, reports CNN.
The Family Leader is an Iowa-based socially conservative umbrella group.
In a letter obtained by CNN, the RNC Counsel’s Office said: “It has come to the attention of the RNC Counsel’s Office that several Republican presidential candidates have been invited to participate in an open-press event in Iowa in November at which they would ‘gather around the table to have a moderated, friendly, and open discussion about the issues’. In other words, a debate.
“Accordingly, please be advised that any Republican presidential candidate who participates in this or other similar events will be deemed to have violated this pledge and will be disqualified from taking part in any future RNC-sanctioned presidential primary debates.”
In its letter, the Office reminded the candidates that they had agreed not to participate in any non-RNC-sanctioned debates during the campaign.
Meanwhile, Drew Zahn, a spokesperson for the The Family Leader, said on Friday that DeSantis, Scott and Ramaswamy have RSVP’d for the event.
“We do not agree that our Forum fits within the RNC’s ‘debate’ restriction”, CNN quoted Zahn as saying in a statement.
He noted that the organisation held the same event during the 2012 and 2016 election cycles.
“So we know from experience our event can be a win-win addition to the election process without in any way competing with the RNC’s debates. It’s just a completely different format and kind of event.”
While DeSantis announced that he would attend the event despite the RNC’s warning, Ramaswamy’s campaign said that it is “hopeful that the RNC and The Family Leader will be able to work out their logistical issues to best serve voters”.
Harmeet Dhillon seen with former President Donald Trump at the White House in 2019 is seeking the presidency of the Republican Party. (Photo: Wikimedia)
The current RNC chair Ronna McDaniels was re-elected on Friday at the Committee’s meeting in California despite criticism for having led the party through three successive defeats and an underperformance, reports Arul Louis
Indian-American Harmeet Dhillon, born in Chandigarh, has lost her bid to head the Republican National Committee (RNC) despite a spirited fight against the US party’s establishment that drew broad support.
The current RNC chair Ronna McDaniels was re-elected on Friday at the Committee’s meeting in California despite criticism for having led the party through three successive defeats and an underperformance.
Dhillon, who polled 51 votes to McDaniel’s 111 in the 168-member RNC, ran a grassroots campaign that brought out the discontent in the ranks of the party that must face a presidential election next year.
After the election, Dhillon said” “At the end of the day, if our party is perceived as totally out of touch with the grassroots, which I think some may take away from this outcome, we have some work to do.”
The Republican Party has two high-profile women with roots in Punjab — Dhillon, who proudly broadcasts it with the Twitter handle “@pnjaban”; and Nikki Haley, the first Indian-American to be on the US Cabinet, who has said is “looking in a serious way” a run for the party’s presidential nomination.
A brief thought about the RNC Chair race. It’s been an honor to hear from all the Americans who reached out to share their views about the party’s leadership. While we are disappointed with the results, we started a movement & I will keep working to elect Republicans nationwide!! pic.twitter.com/laCe3jUcMY
The run-up to the RNC election was marred by allegations that McDaniels’s supporters had run a whispering campaign against Dhillon based on her Sikh faith.
Dhillon tweeted during the campaign: “No amount of threats to me or my team, or bigoted attacks on my faith traceable directly to associates of the chair, will deter me from advancing positive change at the RNC.”
McDaniels condemned the efforts to use religion against Dhillon citing her own membership in the minority Mormon faith that is often portrayed negatively.
Dhillon received the support of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a rising figure in the party and a likely challenger to former President Donald Trump for the party’s presidential nomination next year.
Endorsing Dhillon, DeSantis said in an interview with the leader of a conservative group within the party, “I think we need to get some new blood in the RNC”.
With McDaniels as chair, the party lost the House of Representatives in 2018 and Senate and the presidential election in 2020 and underperformed in the mid-term elections last year whipping up criticism of the leadership..
Dhillon had picked up support from two state committees, Nevada and Washington, the heads of the party in four states and from several high-profile party donors, as well as media figures influential within the party.
Randy, thank you for being the one member from Colorado who supported change at the RNC. You well-represented your state, & I truly appreciate your support & careful consideration in this important decision. Let’s work together to get Republicans elected, regardless! https://t.co/XSRUoj3ePu
Trump who had connections to both McDaniels and Dhillon stayed neutral in the open, but according to some media reports secretly backed the incumbent.
He had picked McDaniels in 2017 to head the RNC, while Dhillon was one of his lawyers during the last presidential election and the House probe into the January 2021 Capitol riots.
McDaniel is seen as closely aligned herself with Trump and while Dhillon has not openly gone against him, she repudiated Trump’s continued claim that he was the rightful winner in 2020.
But many conservative diehard Trump supporters backed Dhillon and this may have turned off some of the moderate voters.
According to Politico, many had reservations in particular about one “firebrand conservative figure” Charlie Kirk who they feared might exert influence on the party if she were elected.
Dhillon immigrated to the US as a child, said a Sikh prayer at the opening of a session of the RNC in 2016 — the first time a non-Abrahamic religion figured in a national party convention.
Dhillon, whose law practice takes on discrimination cases, mainly by conservatives, has been associated with the American Civil Liberties Union, which is reviled by many Republicans.
The Republicans have warned Trump any attempt to make an announcement earlier than fall or before the mid-terms could be disastrous for the party, reports Ashe Oneil
Former US President Donald Trump and the Republican committees seem engaged in a battle of wits with the Republican National Committee (RNC) saying it will cease funding his legal bills if he chose to announce his candidacy for 2024 too early. Thats before the mid-terms on November 8 this year.
Trump will lose RNC funding for legal bills if he announces 2024 candidacy, says Fox News in a report claiming that top-level Republicans have encouraged the former leader not to announce his 2024 candidacy until after the mid-terms of the House of Representatives’ elections.
Trump tried to preempt the January 6 Capitol riot panel reports expected September by announcing his candidacy before so as to leverage his strength in the GOP to get his nomination for the presidential run.
The Republicans have warned Trump any attempt to make an announcement earlier than fall or before the mid-terms could be disastrous for the party as it would water down the campaign on the economy turning bad due to the inept administration of Joe Biden’s presidency that the party has been building up to edge out the democrats and retake the 435-member House.
Trump seems to think announcing early his candidacy gives him much greater leverage as he was able to get all his candidates in GOP primaries nominated even as the Congressional committee on the Capitol riot was tearing him to pieces with video evidence of his involvement in the attack and doing nothing about it to stop it.
Trump dubbed the hearings as a “witch hunt” by a political party against a former president in the theatre of politics orchestrated by the democratic party for a televised audience.
The RNC is currently bankrolling several legal cases for Trump, including personal lawsuits and government investigations into him. That flow of cash would end once he announces his candidacy for president in 2024, according to ABC News. Some see the move as an incentive for Trump to delay announcing his candidacy at least until after the 2022 midterm elections, which Republicans already seemed poised to win.
(Credit Twitter@A1Policy)
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel had previously stated that the Republican Party cannot be biased in favor of any one candidate in the party’s presidential primary. “The party has to stay neutral,” McDaniel said as early as in January this year. “I’m not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024.”
Top-level members of the Republican Party have tried to influence Trump to delay announcing his candidacy until after the mid-terms. Many read that Republicans fear that a Trump announcement would upset the status quo of voters focused on inflation, gas prices and President Joe Biden’s low approval rating. “My point to him has always been, ‘Let’s go win ’22’,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Tuesday of his conversations with Trump, adding that he encouraged Trump to hold off on an announcement.
Trump stated earlier this month that he has already made up his mind on whether to run, and that the main decision is now whether he will announce before or after the midterms.
According to a Washington Examiner finding, the RNC has paid almost $2 million in legal fees for the former president as he faces different investigations into his financial dealings and conduct during the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. A committee official told ABC News those payments will end soon after Trump announces a reelection bid because of the RNC’s policies on maintaining neutrality in elections, meaning if the former president announces a bid too soon, the RNC could stop contributing to his legal costs.
Trump has repeatedly teased a third bid for the White House, boosting those rumors even further during a speech in Washington, D.C., this week.
“I won the second time. I did much better the second time,” Trump said at the America First Agenda Summit. “We may just have to do it again.”
The RNC has paid much of Trump’s legal costs, giving at least $1.73 million to three law firms representing the former president between October 2021 and June, as well as a $50,000 payment last month, according to the report. The committee has used payments for the former president’s legal challenges as leverage before. The RNC once reportedly threatened to stop paying for several of his post-election court challenges during a dispute after the 2020 election, according to a book from ABC News chief Washington co
The RNC has been helping Trump pay his legal bills but will pull the plug once he kicks off his 2024 campaign.
(Credit Twitter@A1Policy)
In 2021, the RNC committed to paying nearly $2 million in Trump’s legal bills. Some Republicans worry Trump announcing his 2024 bid may torpedo the GOP’s midterm chances.
Former GOP official Kurt Bardella dubbed Trump as being impulsive and lacking control thereby speculating that he could announce his run early given the mounting criticism he’s facing. A Trump announcement could also be a means for the former president to rescue himself from the damning testimonies from witnesses during the January 6 committee’s public hearings.
Trump has teased a presidential run numerous times. In January, a video run showed Trump calling himself the “45th and 47th president”. Trump however dismissed them as fake news.
As Trump lives in the self-belief that he has successfully trumpified the republican party getting all but most of his candidates nominated to the Nov 08 mid-terms this year despite the Capitol riot hearings. In 2021, Trump had gone on the offensive when he issued letters to three republican committees to cease and desist from using his name for fund raising. he believes no mudslinging on his larger than life image can stick, and that he is the only viable alternative to beat Biden at his game, the examiner said.
Reports of media coverage on Trump soon after his defeat in the 2020 polls showed that Trump had been angry that some groups in the Republican party could use his name to support Republicans who voted to impeach him a second time. Ten Republican members of Congress voted to impeach Trump in the House, and seven Republican senators voted with Democrats to find the former president guilty of inciting riot.
Despite dissent within the Republican Party, Trump continues to assert himself as its leader.
To recall, Trump had said his “America First” movement was just getting started, and speaker after speaker affirmed him as the future of the party. A demand that the GOP’s largest fundraising groups not raise money off Trump’s name could complicate Republicans’ efforts to take back the White House, Senate and House, as Trump has promised they will.
Donald Trump takes the stage on the last day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, the United States, July 21, 2016. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu/IANS)
Trump is no stranger to the cease-and-desist letters that threaten litigation in his business, campaign and presidency. As early as in 2015, Trump’s campaign accused the conservative Club for Growth of running a defamatory ad against him and threatened a lawsuit if they didn’t stop airing it.
In 2018, Trump’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to his former chief strategist Steve Bannon after Bannon was quoted in a Michael Wolff book describing a Trump Tower meeting as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”. Legal action was “imminent,” his lawyers said then. Trump’s attorneys also sent a cease-and-desist letter to Wolff and his publisher, Steve Rubin, demanding that they halt publication and release of Wolff’s book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House”. (The effort was unsuccessful.
The same Steve Bannon, a Trump strategist and allegedly involved in the Jan 06 uprising has been convicted for contempt of court not to heed to the subpoenas issued against him by the panel that said “he (Bannon) thought he was above the law”.
Coming months, we can see interesting developments unfold as the panel releases its report indicting Trump for the insurrection and how voters react in the midterms.
