By J Robert Smith
- Jan. 28, 2023
- 3-min read
During last year’s midterm elections, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell thumbed his nose at the GOP’s conservative base. He now famously said that the crop of America First Senate candidates were lackluster, at best. Now, why would wily old Mitch say that? Oh, to pour cold water on the chances of Arizona’s Blake Masters, Georgia’s Hershel Walker, and New Hampshire’s Don Bolduc to raise money and build grassroots support. But, principally, old Mitch wanted to dampen down fundraising for these men.
Then Mitch pulled Senate Republican dollars from Masters and Bolduc, while sending millions to help his crony, Lisa Murkowski, win against fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska. The deck was already stacked against Tshibaka when Murkowski and her allies pushed through ranked choice voting. Without that fix and McConnell’s heft, Murkowski would have lost.
To make matters much worse, after the elections, McConnell helped Democrats pass an obscenely costly budget, to the tune of $1.7 trillion. McConnell didn’t want the new GOP House majority – not yet sworn in – to interfere with the binge spending that he heartily approves of.
Now, Ronna McDaniel was just reelected Republican National Committee chair. She won decisively with 111 votes out 168. The RNC is controlled by establishment Republicans who despise Donald Trump, the America First movement, and grassroots conservatives generally. They’re a subset of the Washington establishment and serve, for the most part, as the Democrat Party’s shadow. It’s the Washington establishment versus the grassroots, and we know where GOP mossbacks stand – against us.
Harmeet Dhillon — a smart, shrewd, politically savvy lawyer and longtime activist — was the insurgent candidate for the chair. She’s also one of Trump’s lawyers defending him against the relentless onslaught from Democrats and establishment to destroy him.
Dhillon made these charges against McDaniel, per the New York Post:
“Dhillon had insisted that the party needed new leadership and had called for the RNC to move its headquarters out of Washington. Her aggressive campaign against McDaniel including allegations of chronic misspending, mismanagement and even religious bigotry against Dhillon’s Sikh faith — all claims that McDaniel denied.
“The night before the vote, Dhillon ripped McDaniel’s performance as RNC head in a speech to her supporters, saying: ‘I know she’s done her best and I also know that that isn’t good enough for the next three years.’
“On Friday morning, Dhillon tweeted out a warning that Republicans ‘must change—or keep losing’ and hinted at political consequences for those who would continue to back the incumbent McDaniel.
“ ‘Ignoring the will of the voters in your state is a good way not to get elected again,’ she told the Associated Press before the balloting began.”
But the game was rigged from the beginning. Dhillon had to know it. But she was running to provide a counter, a contrast, to failed Ronna McDaniel and the inbreds who squandered millions in the midterms running old-style campaigns and failing to aggressively link Joe Biden to the country’s woes and then make connections to Democrat contenders.
A bit of advice for grassroots voters. Don’t send a penny to the RNC or the GOP U.S. House and Senate campaign committees. In 2024, take the time to find conservative candidates who are worth supporting. Send your dollars directly to their campaigns, whether in your state or out. Don’t let the fools and incompetents who run the RNC waste your money.
