Trump is attempting a hostile takeover of the GOP

Donald Trump is not happy that the Republican Party does not expel members who have not been entirely loyal to him. And lately, he’s been doing more about it than when he channeled his anger by posting mean tweets.

Days ago, lawyers representing Trump took the extraordinary step of demanding that the Republican National Committee (RNC) and other prominent groups of the Republican Party stop and give up using Trump’s name and likeness. The RNC denied the request, citing Trump’s status as a public figure, and Trump responded on Monday night with a tweet-like statement asking supporters to contribute to him instead of the party.

“No money for RINOS,” begins the statement, referring to an acronym for “Republicans in name only”, which for Trump has come to mean anyone who is not entirely loyal to him.

“They do nothing but harm the Republican Party and our large base of votes – they will never lead us to greatness,” he continues. “Send your donation to Save America PAC at DonaldJTrump.com. Let’s bring everything back stronger than ever! “

This was not the first time since he left office that Trump asked his supporters to give him money instead of the Republican Party. He did the same thing during his February 28 speech as the headliner of the CPAC.

“There is only one way to contribute to our efforts to elect America’s first Republican conservatives and, in turn, to make America great again, and that is through Save America PAC and donaldjtrump.com,” he said.

Save America PAC is Trump’s “leadership PAC”: a type of political committee made up of current or former elected officials who have relatively few restrictions on what they can do with donations. And as a result, Trump may have more than just political revenge in mind by asking his supporters to donate to him instead of the Republican Party.

“If you are going to direct a lot of money from a political committee to yourself, this is the way to do it,” said Jordan Libowitz, communications director for Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW), in an interview.

Trump is concerned about the 17 Republicans who voted against him during his second impeachment

The Trump cease and desist letter came a day after Trump issued a statement announcing that he plans to campaign for whoever Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) is next year. Murkowski was one of seven Republican senators who voted last month to condemn Trump for an impeachment article for inciting the January 6 uprising, and is the only senator running for reelection who is not retiring.

Trump criticized Murkowski, saying: “She represents her state badly and her country even worse. I don’t know where the other people will be next year, but I know where I will be – in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad senator. ”

Although Trump did not commit to running for president again in 2024, he made it very clear that he plans to campaign against “disloyal” Republicans next year. During his speech at CPAC, he referred to the 17 Republicans in the House and Senate who voted for their impeachment or nominal conviction and said, “Get rid of them all.”

Trump also spoke harshly to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, who voted for Trump’s acquittal, but immediately delivered a speech to the Senate floor denouncing him. And in the days following the CPAC, McConnell made it clear that he will support Republicans in their caucus, who are running for re-election next year, even if Trump campaigns against them.

Libowitz said that while it is highly unusual for a former elected official like Trump to use his leadership cap against his own party, he is not surprised that Trump is doing so.

“This is essentially the story of the scorpion and the frog, except that it is the swindler and the political party,” he said. “So I think it was a little naive to believe that he became a team player when there were tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars at the table.”

Save America PAC is a lucrative business opportunity for Trump

PAC Save America has already proven itself to be a formidable fundraiser. Thanks in large part to highly misleading emails, it raised $ 31.5 million in the weeks after election day. Donors were told that the money would finance legal challenges, but a careful reading of the fine print indicated that the money was being largely raised for things like paying campaign debts and financing Trump’s post-presidential operation.

PAC is still sitting on most of that money. Fundraising emails told donors that he would be involved in Georgia’s second round, but that never happened. And now Trump wants even more.

Trump says he is raising money to eradicate “RINOS”. Whether he can purge the party of Republicans who are not loyal to him, it remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: Leadership PAC funds are a way for Trump to continue to profit from his popularity among Republicans at a time when activity on his properties has declined.

Libowitz explained to me that since leadership PACs have “few restrictions” on how the money is spent, he expects “to see a lot of that money going to Trump companies, and I have to imagine that it is just part of the grift”.

Trump could use the money to hold events at his hotels, for example. But there are other ways for this to return to the former president.

“There are not many restrictions on travel expenses, so he can rent his own plane and pay to fly around the country,” said Libowitz. “He can pay Ivanka and the rest of his family very high sums as consultants to the PAC. He can rent an office space for himself. “

Libowitz said he will believe that Trump really plans to use the leadership PAC funds to help MAGA candidates when he sees them.

“I think the question is, is he the type of guy who has a hundred million dollars in the bank and is going to spend it to help other people who might not necessarily turn around and help him, or is he the type of guy who is going to meet a way to direct that money back to him and his closest allies? ”Libowitz said. “Traditionally, Trump is the last.”

The Trump-RNC rivalry is remarkably one-sided

The RNC responded to the cessation and withdrawal of Trump’s lawyers with a letter insisting that “it has every right to refer to public figures while engaging in the central political discourse protected by the First Amendment, and will continue to do so in pursuit of these common ones. goals, “Politico reports. He also decided to transfer part of his donor retreat in the spring next month to Trump’s private club, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, according to the Washington Post.

This letter from the RNC, written by Chief Adviser Justin Riemer, says that RNC President Ronna McDaniel and Trump “have a close relationship, and we understand that President Trump reaffirmed to her over the weekend that he approves the current use of his name by the RNC in fundraising and other materials, including for our next donor retreat event in Palm Beach, from which we look forward to your participation ”.

But while the RNC wants people to believe that the feud with Trump is no big deal, there are indications that it is.

As a Forbes reporter, Andrew Solender detailed, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) – which was another of many groups affiliated with the Republican Party to receive an order to cease and desist – spent a few days without releasing communications mentioning Trump after news of the cease and desist. But that ended on Tuesday afternoon and an email was sent praising him.

Regardless of how active Trump ends up being in the campaign against the Murkowskis of the world next year, Republican Party officials are now placed in the unenviable position of having to prepare for war on two fronts during a half-term cycle in who hope to regain control of at least one of the two chambers of Congress.

“Even if he doesn’t spend [the leadership PAC money], the threat of spending it against someone may be enough to put them on the line and keep them deferring to them, ”said Libowitz.