RNC chair McDaniel sides with Trump over uncle Mitt Romney
In the reinvigorated feud between her uncle, Mitt Romney, and her boss, President Donald Trump, Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has picked a side: the president’s.
McDaniel was critical of Romney, referring to him in a post to Twitter only as “an incoming Republican freshman senator.” Romney, who will be sworn in as a senator from Utah later this week, authored a scathing op-ed published Tuesday by The Washington Post in which he wrote that Trump “has not risen to the mantle” of the presidency.
“POTUS is attacked and obstructed by the MSM media and Democrats 24/7,” McDaniel wrote on Twitter. “For an incoming Republican freshman senator to attack @realDonaldTrump as their first act feeds into what the Democrats and media want and is disappointing and unproductive.”
McDaniel’s post to Twitter linked to an earlier tweet from the president himself in which Trump similarly rebuked Romney. The two men have shared a fraught relationship, most notably during the 2016 presidential campaign, when Romney delivered a speech calling the then-GOP candidate “a fraud” and “a phony” who was “playing the American public for suckers.” Trump, in turn, has regularly derided Romney as a loser who blew his 2012 run for the White House.
But the two have had warmer moments, as well. Trump endorsed Romney’s 2012 presidential candidacy as well as his 2018 Senate run. The president also reportedly considered Romney to be his initial secretary of state, a job that ultimately went to former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.
Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele weighed in to say that McDaniel’s loyalty is likely dictated by her job. “@GOPChairwoman walking a tight rope? Not really. She leads the political org. of the President and will say (and tweet) as instructed. To refer to Mitt so impersonally reflected that,” he tweeted. “Her loyalty runs direct to Trump not her uncle—if she wants to keep her job.”
While McDaniel’s family ties and professional loyalties have been tested by the Trump-Romney feud, the RNC chairwoman has long sought to minimize intraparty disputes while remaining a loyal soldier for Trump and the GOP. She oversaw both historic losses in the House and net gains in the Senate in November’s midterm elections.
The Washington Post reported in 2017 that Trump had asked McDaniel lightheartedly to stop publicly using the Romney name. She did so soon thereafter.