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CPUd
12-09-2016, 09:08 AM
Trump likely to pick McDaniel to lead RNC

Ronna Romney McDaniel has emerged as Donald Trump’s likely choice to lead the Republican National Committee, two sources familiar with the president-elect’s decision told POLITICO.

McDaniel, the niece of 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, is currently chair of the Michigan Republican Party. Trump’s decision could be announced as soon as Friday, a transition official said, when he is scheduled to visit Grand Rapids in the course of his post-election “thank you” tour.

Several sources close to the decision-making process, however, said the final decision had not yet been made and it was possible that another top contender could be selected. Talks remain ongoing, with some discussion centering on who would be named co-chair.

The selection of McDaniel, 43, would be a victory for incoming White House chief of staff and outgoing RNC chairman Reince Priebus, who wants to hand over the reins to a fellow committee member.

Trump’s decision, however, remains in flux. Priebus had been battling over the pick with several other top Trumpworld figures -- including Vice President-elect Mike Pence, senior strategist Steve Bannon and GOP megadonor Rebekah Mercer -- who preferred Nick Ayers, a Georgia-based Republican strategist and RNC outsider who currently works as a top aide to Pence. And of late Thursday evening, some Ayers supporters were still hoping to sway the decision.

The two sides warring over the RNC pick represent the establishment and populist elements of Trump’s political world, and they have been jockeying over who will control the committee for nearly two weeks now.

One person close to the matter said the decision-making process had evolved into a “throwdown” between dueling populist forces, led by Bannon and Mercer, and the party establishment, led by Priebus.

Two contenders for the co-chairmanship have also emerged: former George W. Bush administration official Mercedes Schlapp, a favorite of conservatives, and RNC official Matt Pinnell, who is more aligned with the establishment.

The 168 members of the RNC’s executive committee will officially elect the party’s chair at their meeting in January, but the imprimatur of an incoming president is typically decisive -- as a number of committee members acknowledged on Thursday.

“I will support whomever the president-elect tells me to support,” said New Jersey committeeman Bill Palatucci, a longtime ally and confidant of Gov. Chris Christie.

“Normally, when the president takes control, our mission is changed. We become a political arm of the president,” said California committeeman Shawn Steel.

Trump’s choice of McDaniel would settle one of the first turf wars between the populist Bannon and the establishment Priebus, and its outcome is likely to be interpreted by GOP insiders as an indicator of which faction will have greater sway over the direction of the party in the Trump era.

The president-elect is said to have taken a personal liking to McDaniel, who speaks frequently with people close to Trump. On Wednesday, during a closed-door meeting in New York with some 800 top donors, he asked her to stand up and said there were bigger things in store for her in the future, according to two people in the room.

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http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/trump-zeroes-in-on-rnc-chair-pick-232397

nikcers
12-09-2016, 09:25 AM
Say hi to the new swamp, its swampier than the old swamp.