\n<\/p>\n
In 2016, Donald Trump<\/strong> effectively became the leader of the Republican Party, a position he holds to this day despite the many<\/a> alleged crimes<\/a> and that one attempted coup<\/a>. So it seemed like only a matter of time until one of his family members was literally running the Republican National Committee, and apparently that may be happening very soon.<\/p>\n In a statement released on Monday, Trump declared<\/a> that he wants current North Carolina GOP chair Michael Whatley<\/strong> to replace Ronna McDaniel<\/strong> as the leader of the RNC, with his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump,<\/strong> serving as cochair. Lara\u2019s qualifications for the job appear to be that (a) she regularly goes on TV and says<\/a> completely ridiculous things about her father-in-law (like that he might win New York in November) and (b) she\u2019s married to Eric Trump.<\/strong> (Eric is Trump\u2019s third child and second-oldest son, and he inherited his intelligence<\/a> from his father.) Whatley\u2019s main qualification, according to The New York Times<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> is that he\u2019s all in on the thoroughly debunked claim that the 2020 election was stolen:<\/p>\n Mr. Trump likes Mr. Whatley for one overwhelming reason, according to people who have discussed him with the former president: He is \u201ca stop-the-steal guy,\u201d as one of the people described him. He endorses Mr. Trump\u2019s false claims about mass voter fraud and Mr. Trump believes he did a good job delivering North Carolina, a 2020 swing state, to him.<\/p>\n Mr. Whatley has baselessly\u00a0claimed\u00a0that election security efforts from Republicans in North Carolina stopped Democrats from cheating. He is also currently the general counsel at the Republican National Committee and has endorsed efforts to develop new voting laws.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n The leadership positions at the RNC are being discussed because Trump, who rules like a mob boss, recently decided that \u201cchanges<\/a>\u201d needed to be made at the organization. While he is not actually in charge of the RNC, his iron grip on the party means he might as well be; two people familiar with the matter told the Times<\/em> that McDaniel has let Trump know she is planning to step down soon after the February 24 primary in South Carolina. And while the former guy can\u2019t simply install his people in her place, his wishes are expected to be granted. As Politico notes<\/a>, \u201cThe committee must hold a vote among its members\u2026but that will likely be a formality, as the party members are almost certain to support the preferences of the candidate set to [be] the presidential nominee.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to backing Whatley and Lara Trump, the ex-president is expected to \u201ctap Chris LaCivita<\/strong> to serve as RNC chief operating officer,\u201d per Politico, which spoke to a GOP operative and also noted that LaCivita would still maintain his job as Trump\u2019s co-campaign manager.<\/em> In case it was unclear what is going on here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n