Trump's RNC shakeup threatens to blow up in his face: expert

Former President Donald Trump has been widely blamed for forcing longtime Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel to announce her resignation, and he's shared plans for a shakeup that would install far-right loyalists, including his own daughter-in-law Lara Trump, to high-ranking positions in the national party.

But this could all blow up in his face, experts said Tuesday.

McDaniel, who has presided over the GOP ever since the former president first took office, has rapidly become a scapegoat for the GOP's long streak of election losses and underperformances.

However, American history professor Christopher Phelps from the U.K.'s Nottingham University noted that losing her impressive fundraising connections would put a further strain on the GOP's already stunted ability to raise cash.

"The RNC's fundraising is at a very low ebb, and Donald Trump has cast blame on the outgoing RNC chair, Ronna McDaniel, so out she goes," Phelps said. "But McDaniel was well-experienced, having served since 2017, and accordingly very well-networked among Republican big-money sources.

"We'll soon see if Trump's characteristically nepotistic move of appointing his daughter-in-law to replace her and co-chair the RNC along with a promulgator of false election-fraud allegations, Michael Whatley, will change anything."

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And it will reveal whether the big-money donors vital to the GOP's operations are really willing to back the party of Trump.

"It will put to the test whether the problem was McDaniel or, actually, what she was selling," Phelps said. "Is the Republican donor class actually willing to pay Trump's lawyers and court fees, or is that the very problem? Would they prefer to be funding an RNC that is actually focused on winning campaigns?

"If Trump himself is the problem, naming a Trump to the task is not likely to turn things around."

All of this comes at a moment when Trump is facing millions of dollars in legal expenses and funneling his campaign money to pay off the lawyers, raising fears and internal fighting in the Republican Party about whether their national arm should be contributing to that effort as well.

Lara Trump, for her part, has vowed to spend "every single penny" of RNC funds on supporting her father-in-law if she is appointed to party leadership.

Trump's affiliated political action committees have spent at least $50 million on his legal expenses, which continue to grow. It is unclear whether he might try to tap RNC funds to pay his bills, but he's already reliant on his supporters. The former president is facing 91 felony charges in various cases across multiple states.