RNC Naming Trump ‘Presumptive Nominee’ Too Much Even for Him

RNC chair Ronna McDaniel listening to her master’s voice. Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

After Donald Trump threw a temper tantrum on national TV the night of the New Hampshire primary over Nikki Haley’s refusal to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, some of his allies in the national GOP decided to placate the angry former president while giving Haley a big push towards the exit ramp. As The Dispatch reported earlier this week, the Republican National Committee was considering a resolution naming Trump the “putative nominee” of the GOP — not down the road when Haley quits or Trump wins a majority of delegates, but right away:

The draft resolution, obtained by The Dispatch Thursday morning, was proposed by David Bossie, an RNC committeeman from Maryland and close Trump ally. His effort to put the national party on a general election footing behind Trump follows RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel saying after the former president defeated Haley in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary that it was time for Republicans to unite behind the frontrunner and focus on defeating President Joe Biden.

“RESOLVED that the Republican National Committee hereby declares President Trump as our presumptive 2024 nominee for the office of President of the United States and from this moment forward moves into full general election mode welcoming supporters of all candidates as valued members of Team Trump 2024,” reads a key portion of the draft resolution.

Bossie, president of the infamous Citizens United right-wing advocacy group and co-author, with Corey Lewandowski, of the 2017 book Let Trump Be Trump, apparrently hoped the resolution could be taken up at the RNC’s winter meeting in Las Vegas. The resolution was not just symbolic, as CNN noted:

While the former president would still need to reach the delegate requirements necessary to win the nomination, if the resolution is approved, he would have access to the RNC’s data operation, benefit from fundraising with the RNC, and have the support of all of the committee’s ground operations. It would also mean the committee would be supporting Trump and effectively opposing former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — an unprecedented break from the party’s past approach to the nominating process.

That’s for sure.

In the past, the term “presumptive nominee” was reserved for candidates who had either won a majority of delegates or had disposed of all active and significant opposition or both. It was designed to give us all something to call the winner before the formal nomination process that takes place at each major party’s national convention.

Trump has won 32 delegates so far. He’ll need 1,183 more to clinch the nomination. In Nikki Haley, he has an active and significant opponent in the primaries no matter her long odds; it’s highly unlikely she’ll drop out before her home state of South Carolina votes on February 24, and she may well stick around for a good while to see if Trump somehow self-destructs or appears to be headed to the hoosegow. And the 2024 GOP convention in Milwaukee won’t happen for more than five months (it opens on July 15).

As it happens, the unprecedented bow to Trump was too much even for the Sun King himself, who declined the honor Bossie was offering in a Truth Social post on the evening of January 25:

While I greatly appreciate the Republican National Committee (RNC) wanting to make me their PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE, and while they have far more votes than necessary to do it, I feel, for the sake of PARTY UNITY, that they should NOT go forward with this plan, but that I should do it the “Old Fashioned” way, and finish the process off AT THE BALLOT BOX. Thank you to the RNC for the Respect and Devotion you have shown me! TRUMP2024

And so the draft resolution was promptly withdrawn. But the attempted gesture shows how completely the national party is under Trump’s thumb, as illustrated by RNC chair Ronna McDaniel’s comment right after New Hamsphire was called for the former president: “We need to unite around our eventual nominee, which is going to be Donald Trump.” No neutrality there, which isn’t surprising since McDaniel’s main accomplishment in her position has been to stay in good standing with Trump.

It takes a lot of sycophancy to drive the 45th president into a display of modesty, feigned or real. It makes you wonder how lavish his eventual coronation in Milwaukee might be.

This post was updated after the RNC dropped the “presumptive nominee” resolution.