Zippyjuan
01-01-2019, 10:10 PM
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/12/18/trump-machine-swallows-rnc-1067875
President Donald Trump is planning to roll out an unprecedented structure for his 2020 reelection, a streamlined organization that incorporates the Republican National Committee and the president’s campaign into a single entity.
It’s a stark expression of Trump’s stranglehold over the Republican Party: Traditionally, a presidential reelection committee has worked in tandem with the national party committee, not subsumed it.
Under the plan, which has been in the works for several weeks, the Trump reelection campaign and the RNC will merge their field and fundraising programs into a joint outfit dubbed Trump Victory. The two teams will also share office space rather than operate out of separate buildings, as has been custom.
The goal is to create a single, seamless organization that moves quickly, saves resources, and — perhaps most crucially — minimizes staff overlap and the kind of infighting that marked the 2016 relationship between the Trump campaign and the party. While a splintered field of Democrats fight for the nomination, Republicans expect to gain an organizational advantage.
There is another benefit as well: With talk of a primary challenge to Trump simmering, the act of formally tying the president’s reelection campaign to the resource-rich national party will make it only harder for would-be Republican opponents to mount a bid.
“We are going to streamline this presidential campaign like no presidential campaign has been streamlined before,” said Chris Carr, a veteran party strategist who has been tapped to serve as political director on the Trump reelection effort.
Speaking to the departure from presidential campaign tradition, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called it “the biggest, most efficient and unified campaign operation in American history.”
While many senior party officials recognize the potential upside of the arrangement, they also privately acknowledge the political risk of linking the party apparatus so closely to the president at a time when he’s under increasing political and legal duress.
“There are some people who choose for whatever reason to handcuff themselves to the Titanic,” said John Weaver, an adviser to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is considering challenging Trump in the Republican primary. “Why, I have no idea.”
Planning has accelerated in the weeks following the Republican Party’s midterm shellacking — a defeat, GOP officials concede, that foreshadows a treacherous presidential election ahead. Last Thursday, a group of top Trump political advisers huddled in a nondescript Rosslyn, Va., office building where much of the 2020 operation will be based. The group, which included McDaniel and campaign manager Brad Parscale, discussed how the vehicle will be organized and financed, and how they expect it to function.
More at link.
President Donald Trump is planning to roll out an unprecedented structure for his 2020 reelection, a streamlined organization that incorporates the Republican National Committee and the president’s campaign into a single entity.
It’s a stark expression of Trump’s stranglehold over the Republican Party: Traditionally, a presidential reelection committee has worked in tandem with the national party committee, not subsumed it.
Under the plan, which has been in the works for several weeks, the Trump reelection campaign and the RNC will merge their field and fundraising programs into a joint outfit dubbed Trump Victory. The two teams will also share office space rather than operate out of separate buildings, as has been custom.
The goal is to create a single, seamless organization that moves quickly, saves resources, and — perhaps most crucially — minimizes staff overlap and the kind of infighting that marked the 2016 relationship between the Trump campaign and the party. While a splintered field of Democrats fight for the nomination, Republicans expect to gain an organizational advantage.
There is another benefit as well: With talk of a primary challenge to Trump simmering, the act of formally tying the president’s reelection campaign to the resource-rich national party will make it only harder for would-be Republican opponents to mount a bid.
“We are going to streamline this presidential campaign like no presidential campaign has been streamlined before,” said Chris Carr, a veteran party strategist who has been tapped to serve as political director on the Trump reelection effort.
Speaking to the departure from presidential campaign tradition, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called it “the biggest, most efficient and unified campaign operation in American history.”
While many senior party officials recognize the potential upside of the arrangement, they also privately acknowledge the political risk of linking the party apparatus so closely to the president at a time when he’s under increasing political and legal duress.
“There are some people who choose for whatever reason to handcuff themselves to the Titanic,” said John Weaver, an adviser to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is considering challenging Trump in the Republican primary. “Why, I have no idea.”
Planning has accelerated in the weeks following the Republican Party’s midterm shellacking — a defeat, GOP officials concede, that foreshadows a treacherous presidential election ahead. Last Thursday, a group of top Trump political advisers huddled in a nondescript Rosslyn, Va., office building where much of the 2020 operation will be based. The group, which included McDaniel and campaign manager Brad Parscale, discussed how the vehicle will be organized and financed, and how they expect it to function.
More at link.