POLITICO (“GOP primary candidates must agree to loyalty pledge in order to debate, RNC chair says“):
Any candidate who wants to take part in the GOP’s first primary debate in Milwaukee later this year will have to sign a pledge promising to support whoever wins the nomination, Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel said Sunday.
“We’re saying you’re not going to get on the debate stage unless you make this pledge,” McDaniel said during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.” McDaniel, who recently won her fourth term as RNC chair after a contentious battle against Harmeet Dhillon, said that Republican voters are tired of “infighting” within the party, and “want to see us come together.”
So far, three prominent candidates have entered the GOP presidential primary — former President Donald Trump, former Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. More are expected to join the race, potentially including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
McDaniel said she expects all candidates who decided to join what may become a crowded race to sign the pledge, describing it as “a no-brainer.”
“If you’re going to be on the Republican National Committee debate stage asking voters to support you, you should say, I’m going to support the voters and who they choose as the nominee,” McDaniel said.
But earlier this month, Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt his support for the GOP candidate in the general election would depend on who the nominee was.
McDaniel, however, said she believes the former president will sign the pledge. “I think they all want to be on the debate stage. I think President Trump would like to be on the debate stage. That’s what he likes to do. And I expect they will all be there.”
If one knew nothing about the last few years of American politics, this would seem rather pro forma. While the United States has, as Steven Taylor constantly seeks to remind us, very weak parties, it makes sense for party leadership to seek to strengthen the brand by controlling who gets on the debate stage to vie for their presidential nomination and to expect that those who do coalesce around the eventual nominee. Indeed, with relatively rare exceptions, that has been the norm during the primary era.
But, of course, that assumes a “normal” political party and political climate. We haven’t had that since Donald Trump went down the escalator in 2015. There was a famous moment during one of the 2016 debates when candidates were asked whether they would support the eventual nominee and Trump said what he’s saying now: it depends on whom the nominee is. And several of the other candidates had made statements about Trump being uniquely unfit for the office.
Thus far, 2024 looks to be a contest between Trump and Trump Lite candidates, with Nikki Haley trying to triangulate as a Trump-friendly Normal Republican without much success. But it’s not inconceivable that some genuine Not-Trump Republican (a Larry Coker or Chris Sununu or even a Mitt Romney) will get into the race. I don’t have much hope that any of those would win. But they certainly can’t do it while pledging to back Trump.
Now, of course, McDaniel was Trump’s hand-picked RNC Chair. Despite the party having lost seats in every single election since she’s been in the post, she’s continued to win re-election to it. Presumably, she’s doing this for Trump’s benefit. But it’s simply untenable given the state of the party.
