REPORT: Ronna McDaniel, RNC Panicking Over Trump’s Refusal To Sign Loyalty Pledge

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is in a panic over the refusal of Republican primary frontrunner Donald Trump to sign a loyalty pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee against Joe Biden. The head of the RNC, Ronna Romney McDaniel has signaled that there will be no exceptions to this demand even for a former president. Brain Seitchik, a Republican strategist and veteran Trump campaigner, commented, “It’s a distinct possibility that the Republican nominee for president could simply decide to shun the RNC itself…When a candidate refuses to play by the rules, it obviously weakens the RNC’s position.”

Chairwoman McDaniel in an interview with Chris Wallace of CNN remarked of the loyalty pledge that “[i]t’s the Beat Biden Pledge.” She explained, “And what we’re saying — and the debate committee has met for over two years people from Alaska to Illinois to Tennessee — is if you’re going to stand on the Republican National Committee debate stage you should be able to support the nominee and beat Biden.” She added, “Everybody has to sign the Beat Biden Pledge. Everybody…It’s across the board. The rules aren’t changing. We’ve been very vocal with them.”

It is not only Trump who so far has not signed the pledge, but also former governor Chris Christie of New Jersey. Christie has said that he did not get the pledge form but has also passed comments that have brought into question whether he would sign it. Christie called the pledge “a bad idea.” Christie, however, also mused that the RNC was using this form issue with Trump in order to keep the former president off the debate stage in the event the form remains unsigned.

“I think that they are serious about wanting this pledge signed and I do think they would keep Donald Trump off the stage if he chose not to sign the pledge,” said Christie. Doug Heye, a Republican strategist, disagrees with this assessment. “If he [Trump] decides he wants to do [the debate], it’s hard to see how he wouldn’t be allowed to, pledge or no,” said Heye.

Jennifer Horn, a former chairwoman of the New Hampshire GOP State Committee, maintained that the RNC is not the one with leverage over Trump in this situation.

“The RNC needs Trump a lot more than Trump needs the RNC…Whether they want him to be the head of the party or not, the party is following him, not the RNC…If they lose Trump, then they lose the support of the Trump voters and their base for their Senate candidates, their House candidates, their state candidates” stated Horn.