Lara Trump’s RNC Takeover Sparks Fury From Some Republicans

A number of Republican activists have vowed to suspend their support for the party after Lara Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, was elected as co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC).

Lara Trump, who is married to Donald Trump’s second son Eric Trump, was elected to her position at the RNC’s spring training session in Houston, Texas. The event also saw Michael Whatley, another Trump-endorsed candidate, elected as RNC chair in another tightening of the former president’s grip over the party.

Trump secured a string of Republican primary wins on ‘Super Tuesday,’ leading to Nikki Haley, his last serious remaining rival in the contest, dropping out.

Newsweek reached out to the Republican National Committee via the contact form on its official website at 4:30 a.m. ET on Saturday. This article will be updated if there is any comment.

Following her election as co-chair, Lara Trump said: “Everything I do at this committee will have one focus: re-electing Donald Trump, flipping the Senate, and expanding the House this November.”

However, her victory sparked an angry reaction from a sub-set of the GOP activist base on social media.

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday, U.S. Army veteran Peter Henlein wrote: “Lara Trump is now Co-Chair of the RNC. After a lifetime of donating to every GOP nominee and multiple down ballot candidates every cycle….I’m out.

“I donated to help win elections, not to maintain the lifestyle of a billionaire. No point donating now.”

Ayden David Marietta, a Generation Z conservative who identifies as a Ron DeSantis supporter, wrote: “I will focus on down ballot races this year. But if these idiots aren’t ousted or they don’t wake up nationally in 2024, I will see to it they will. We must RECLAIM THE PARTY OF LINCOLN, COOLIDGE, AND REAGAN!!”

Referring to Lara Trump, Dan Stilwell, a Texan naval veteran who describes himself as “conservative not populist,” said: “I will not donate another penny to the GOP as long as she is involved in its leadership.”

Another X account, Haley-supporting ‘Noaharkmoney,’ shared an official Republican Party post confirming the election of Whatley and Lara Trump, adding: “MAGA GOP not getting a dime from me ever again. Good luck trying to raise money for Trump’s legal issues.” MAGA is an abbreviation of ‘Make America Great Again,’ the Trump slogan that has been adopted as a moniker by many of his supporters.

After Lara Trump’s election, campaign group Republicans Against Trump, which has over 610,000 X followers, shared an interview she gave to conservative network Real America’s Voice before her election. In it, she said any Republican who doesn’t want Trump to win in November is “welcome to leave.”

Whatley replaced Ronna McDaniel as chair of the RNC. McDaniel had been backed by Trump when she became RNC chair in 2017 but was criticized by some Republicans after the party suffered poor election results in 2018 and 2020, then underperformed against expectations of a ‘red wave’ in 2022.

Before her election, Lara Trump said RNC funds could be used to pay her father-in-law’s legal bills, claiming they are “of big interest to people.” The New York Times said in 2021 the Republicans spent over $1 million on Trump’s legal fees.

However, this week Chris LaCivita, another close Trump ally who just took over the RNC’s chief-of-staff role, said that “not a penny of the RNC’s money” would go to paying the former president’s legal bills.

Trump is facing four criminal cases over allegations he orchestrated the payment of hush money to a pornographic actress; mishandled classified documents; and broke the law attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, both nationwide and in the state of Georgia specifically. He has pled not guilty to all counts and insists the cases against him are politically motivated.

Trump has also been ordered to pay $454 million in penalties and interest after a New York judge concluded he had committed fraud, along with an additional $83.3 million in damages to writer E. Jean Carroll for defamation.

In 2023, a different court found Trump had sexually assaulted then defamed Carroll and ordered him to pay $5 million in compensation. Trump has strongly denied any wrongdoing in both the Carroll and New York civil fraud cases.