Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday” that former President Donald Trump was “critical” to the Republicans winning in the 2022 midterms.
Partial transcript as follows:
MCDANIEL: Oh, I’m not surprised that he got involved. Listen, the RNC stays neutral for a reason. We legally have to stay neutral, but it is helpful because we didn’t put our thumb on the scale and we get to bring everybody together after the fact and have a kumbaya moment. But President Trump is always going to get involved in primaries, as is other — as other candidates across the country. That’s just the nature of politics.
MACCALLUM: All right. I just want to put this on the screen. Madison Cawthorn, obviously, has gotten a lot of attention in this race. He lost his bid to retain his House seat. The president kind of supported him, the former president, last minute in that race.
But here’s what he just said, Madison Cawthorn: The time for genteel politics as usual has come to an end. It’s time for the rise of the new right. It’s time for Dark MAGA to truly take command.
We have an enemy to defeat, but we will never be able to defeat them until we defeat the cowardly and weak members of our own party. Their days are numbered. We are coming.
What you think of that? And what is — what is “Dark MAGA”?
MCDANIEL: I don’t know what “Dark MAGA” is.
MACCALLUM: It sounds scary.
MCDANIEL: It sounds like the Star Wars thing, like the dark side of the force. I don’t know. I don’t know what that is.
Obviously, it was a very well fought primary. Madison had some issues that came out. He was a rising star in our party, and we need to make sure we retain that seat with Edwards, who defeated him. And Madison did the right thing by conceding.
MACCALLUM: You know, something (ph) —
MCDANIEL: We need to focus on the Democrats, and I would say this to every Republican. They are the ones in control. They are ones destroying our country, and Republicans who are fighting each other constantly, that is not helping us defeat Democrats in November, and that needs to be the focus.
MACCALLUM: Just a quick last question. Both “The New York Times” and Peggy Noonan this week said that from what they are seeing out there, that the president is sort of chasing his base and trying to solidify them, and they pointed to that last-minute endorsement of Cawthorn — rather than leading them.
Quick reaction to that before I let you go, Ronna?
MCDANIEL: Yeah, I disagree. I mean, you look at the rallies he has. You look at the phenomenal fundraising, the juggernaut of fundraising that he’s had. You look at his poll numbers.
I think the base is really looking to him on a lot of things, and he’s going to be critical to help us win in the midterms and help turn out Trump voters who take his lead.
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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