‘Bloodbath’: MAGA allies slash RNC staff as Trump team takes over

In a move that could haunt the Republican Party, Donald Trump's

allies

have now ordered mass layoffs at the Republican National Committee. It comes just days after Trump

allies

, including his daughter-in-law, took over the Republican National Committee headlines calling it a

bloodbath

and a mobike quote. The inauguration with more than 60 officials, including high-level

staff

members, fired or asked to resign and then reapply, is reportedly part of a strategy to ensure that only employees committed to Trump and the Maga movement remain in the RNC; In other words, it looks like a purge. of members considered insufficiently loyal to Maga politically, that could be dangerous, although for Republicans Maga's rise has led to a multi-year GOP losing streak in national elections, a streak that Trump's main rival Nikki Haley in the Republican primaries, he blamed Donald Trump for losing in 2018.

He lost it for us in 2020, he lost it for us in 2022, everything he touches we lose, but the RNC purge could also give Trump more control over finances of the organization. Remember weeks before she became co-chair of the RNC, Laura Trump indicated that the RNC might pay Trump. legal bills Do you think paying President Trump's legal bills is something that would be of interest to voters to absolutely rethink after those comments? The Trump campaign insisted that the RNC would not pay its legal bills, but some members of the RNC were concerned enough to want to do so. she put it in writing by drafting a resolution to prohibit the RNC from paying Trump's bills, and yet that resolution was never adopted, some RNC members are speaking out criticizing the move.

The RNC member in Vermont, GOP Chairman Paul Dame, said, quote, it's something between a purge and a takeover and that's a concern to me now that Trump's allies are taking control of the RNC and now I'm joined by Paul Dame, RNC member and state chair of the Vermont Republican Party, and Molly Jong fast. Mrs. political analyst at the Embassy and special correspondent for Vanity Fair. My thanks to both of you for being here Paul, I'd love to start with you before the break, we talked about your reaction, which was that you say it's something between a cross between a purge and a takeover, tell us what's going on and why you feel so concerned for the RNC, uh, yeah.

At the time, you know, I had that conversation, there was a lot of speculation before the news that K came out on Monday indicating that almost 60 employees had been laid off, so it was really interesting to me. He had some concerns on Friday. We were in Houston, we voted for the new chair and co-chair and I left thinking okay, you know, I'll give these people the benefit of the doubt and the first business day after that, we'll see major changes in the the RNC um and It's really affecting the people closest to the ground, a lot of the regional political directors and state directors were being affected by this and those are the people that state parties like mine interact with on a regular basis, so something was created uncertainty about what will happen in the RNC in the future and how state Republican parties interact with the Paul National Organization.

I just want to go back to something that you said on Friday: you actually voted to vote for Laura Trump and Michael Wayy, who are the president and the co-president, the co-president and the president respectively and you said that you wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, but did you really think about putting someone like Laura Trump in a position like that being the daughter-in-law? Donald Trump's law, did you really think that was going to be the best idea considering everything we'd heard about plans to maybe use the RNC as Trump's personal piggy bank?

Well, I had a very frank and direct conversation with Laura Trump during that meeting before the vote and received assurances from both her and Chairman Watley that using RNC donor funds for legal purposes was out of the question. We heard other

staff

members say that as well, so I was willing to take them at their word and you know, until we see that change, you know, we'll have to look at what the actions are, so Paul, my follow-up question is: What recourse do you and others who are concerned about this purge have? is happening at the RNC, what is the recourse for you if you don't believe these are the correct steps to take at the RNC?

Well, you know that the Republican Party is still built from the bottom up, you know that at our next meeting. the meeting members have a lot of options, it will be the meeting right before the convention, so things about the rules, passing resolutions, and then ultimately you know next January there will be a new vote to elect the leadership, the term ended prematurely here when Ron McDaniel resigned, so Michael Watley will serve from now until next January, so Republicans in all 50 states and territories will have a chance to weigh in after we see the outcome of the November election about what's going on and I think uh my concern has been that it looks like Trump is moving the Republican National Committee in the same direction that we've seen the Democratic National Committee for years being very top down.

A lot of people saw how the super delegate situation at the DNC really robbed Bernie Sanders of a chance um and up to this point the RNC has been bottom up uh but maybe that's changing under the leadership of Trump Ro Molly and I, Paul Molly and I will not agree with you on that Molly, go ahead, yeah, I mean, that's a very good Republican talking point is to say that about the Delegate super delegates who stole from Bernie, but in fact it's 2016, not true, it has been widely debunked and I should also add that Bernie was quick to endorse Joe Biden and again I understand that Republicans are upset about what happened. to the RNC, but I don't think this is the moment when you know, I mean, you have a problem with your party and this and and you know what's going to happen with the States Parties, but I don't know how much this has to do with it.

Well, I have to do with the DMC and Molly has been very limited and the RNC hasn't, but this is changing and I would love to see some reports that would follow up on that and I would say Paul, I'm not too sure. Paul, I'm not so sure you can say it's the best thing, not the most important thing in the Republican Party, if Donald Trump is the person pulling the strings and the people. Molly, let me talk to you real quick about something, Nikki Haley, the biggest primary rival for Donald Trump, the one who survived the head of lettuce, um, warned that Trump is going to be a loser for the Republican Party, his policies, His positions have been losers for the Republican Party like his friend and our friend Rick.

Wilson has said that everything Trump touches dies. Are there any concerns? So if Trump is basically taking over and purging the RNC, Molly, the RNC will no longer survive well. I mean, eventually the RNC will rebuild, but it's certainly a question of why the RNC is handing over the keys like this and you know Lara Trump has said publicly that she thought the RNC should pay Trump's legal bills, so It seems like maybe she's backed off, but you know, look, Trump has a lot of legal bills and you know I. I think there are a lot of States Parties and that could use RNC money, so really the work is knowing that the organization on the ground looks like the RNC may not have this cycle and I think they could probably use it. for