Threats from Donald Trump to quit the Republican Party could be costly for both sides.
The tension between the Republican National Committee and Trump is palpable.
Valuable personal information about Republican voters and donors is a “gold mine,” a former RNC official said.
Trump has spoken of starting his own party if Republicans prevent him from running again in 2024.
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Republican National Committee Chairman Ronna McDaniel emailed supporters on Friday praising former President Donald Trump and listing his “HUGE achievements” for Americans.
“President Trump did what no one thought possible, and he NEVER stopped putting America first,” McDaniel wrote. “It is because of his leadership that the future of this country has never been better.”
But when the email asked supporters to make a political contribution on behalf of “our critical America First agenda,” someone was left off the bounty: Trump.
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Every dollar donated goes to the RNC and only to the RNC – a blatant departure from what had been routine even earlier this month: the RNC, the Trump campaign and, most recently, a new Trump Political Action Committee, jointly raising funds.
This minor but significant change portends a complicated, if not controversial, future between two long unified political mastodons.
Some members of the leadership of the RNC, the group of 168 men and women who set the selection rules for the Republican presidential candidate, have chipped in to excise Trump from their party now that he has left the White House in disgrace .
A Trump / RNC divorce – something unthinkable just a few weeks ago – seems increasingly possible. Trump, for his part, is even considering whether to create his own political party, which, according to the Wall Street Journal, could be called the “Patriot Party.”
The money is at stake. Most notably: The massive, private list of millions of Trump supporters who have contributed cash, signed pro-Trump petitions, volunteered for the campaign, and opted to receive emails , SMS and other communications.
“The list is a gold mine,” a former RNC official told Insider.
A supporter of President Trump waves flags outside McKenzie Arena November 4, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Problem in MAGA paradise
Since Trump became the presumptive Republican presidential candidate in 2016, the Trump campaign and RNC have been engaged in a marriage of convenience and necessity for years.
McDaniel, who dropped the “Romney” of his name to become president of Trump’s RNC, has been tasked with connecting establishment Republicans and the far-right nationalists who formed Trump’s base. Increasingly over the past four years, the ranks of former RNC “establishment” Republicans have been replaced by a new “establishment” pledging loyalty to Trump.
The former establishment and Trump’s most symbolic “marriage” – aside from the RNC’s 2016 efforts to help Trump win the nomination – was the merging of the Trump campaign’s volunteer and fundraising rosters. with popular electoral data from RNC.
This wedding, in the form of a small dollar online fundraising machine, was originally dubbed the “Patriot Pass” – until the owner of the New England Patriots football team, Bob Kraft, calls Trump in January 2019 and complains. The fundraising and data platform was quickly renamed: WinRed.
But WinRed was not publicly deployed for another six months, largely because of fears Trump and his team would use it to steal valuable data from Republicans, and amid fears that the campaign manager and Trump’s advisers use it to get rich.
The contract that cemented the link between the RNC and the Trump campaign is one of the party’s most closely-kept secrets, to the point that even RNC members regretted not knowing what’s in it. agreement and who gets what.
Three Republican lawyers familiar with RNC operations told Insider that any contract between the Trump campaign and RNC would likely detail all the terms of the financial arrangements in the event of a schism, including who controls the supporter data they have shared up to. now.
“I guess most of this is regulated by contract, and if not – and maybe if so! – will be governed by litigation,” added former Federal Election Commission chairman Bradley Smith, now chairman of the ‘Nonprofit Institute for Freedom of Expression.
The RNC did not immediately respond to Insider’s questions. A Trump campaign spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
A protester wears a Make America Great Again cap. Donald Trump personally filed the slogan and his presidential campaign subsequently took over the brand.
Hollie Adams / Stringer
When politicians make millions from supporters’ personal information
This political list data is extremely valuable, both politically and financially for parties and candidates. It can even generate money for years after a political campaign has been put to sleep.
“You have to dig through the lists, no one is looking at it,” a former RNC official told Insider shortly after the 2020 election.
The 2012 campaign of Republican candidate Mitt Romney, for example, raised millions of post-election dollars by renting out the personal information of his supporters to data brokers and other interested third parties.
As recently as last year, Romney’s former presidential campaign was still making money from Newsmax Media’s hiring of its list of supporters, according to Federal Election Commission records. Romney’s presidential committee finally ended in September, transferring much of his remaining $ 92,000 to Romney’s US Senate campaign committee after paying the outstanding bills.
Then there is the issue of intellectual property.
In 2012, for example, Trump personally filed a trademark application for what would become his ubiquitous campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” and the United States Patent and Trademark Office officially registered it on July 14, 2015, according to federal archives.
Trump’s presidential campaign committee then assumed ownership of the “Make America Great Again” brand, revealing that it would be used for dozens of low-key purposes: fundraising, videos, hats, baby clothes, “services.” online social networking in the field of politics ”.
The RNC regularly used “Make America Great Again” in its communications and jointly managed the joint Trump fundraising committee Make America Great Again. The donations have benefited both Trump’s presidential campaign and RNC.
Days after Trump lost the 2020 presidential election last November, the Trump Make America Great Again committee added another beneficiary to its ranks.
Its name: Save America, a PAC that Trump created days before he controlled himself.
These “leadership PACs” can use the money they raise for many purposes, including paying for expenses that could personally benefit their sponsors, including travel, accommodation, legal and meal costs.
Many electoral reformers see leadership PACs, which Republicans and Democrats both use, to be little more than legalized slush funds ripe for abuse.
McDaniel continues to balance competing Republican forces even as she contemplates exit after the 2022 midterm election, RNC members and Republicans close to the RNC told Insider.
It is not clear what Trump will do next politically, although the decision may not be entirely up to him.
If the Senate votes to convict him on his impeachment trial, then senators have the option of banning Trump from re-assuming federal office – dashing his stated interest in running for president again in 2024.
