When Lara Trump addressed a South Carolina crowd ahead of Saturday’s Republican primary in the state, her message was hardly subtle. “I can assure you that my loyalty is to my father-in-law and I will make sure that every penny is used properly,” she said, referring to Donald Trump’s recent endorsement of his son’s wife as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
Now that Trump has won the South Carolina Republican primary and is slated to become the nominee, he is presumably in a much better position to have his daughter-in-law allocate RNC funds to pay his legal fees should she assumes the roll of RNC co-chair. “That’s why people are furious right now. And they see the attacks against him. They feel like it’s an attack not just on Donald Trump but on this country. So, yeah, I think that is a big interest to people, absolutely,” she said, adding: “Having someone like me in there I think will go a long way for people.”
The RNC isn’t the only fundraising organization associated with Trump that’s having trouble raising money.
These remarks followed Trump announcing that he was endorsing his daughter-in-law for RNC co-chair, along with election denier and chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, Michael Whatley, for chair. There will obviously be some internal RNC drama about Lara Trump’s new RNC mandate, but it’s hard to imagine that Trump won’t eventually win out.
The story of current RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel stepping down was first reported in The New York Times in early February. This story didn’t include any comments from McDaniel, but noted that “a press officer for the Republican National Committee did not respond to requests for comment.” Keith Schipper, a spokesman for the RNC, later posted on X that “nothing has changed. This will be decided after South Carolina.”
McDaniel has been a Trump soldier since assuming the job, and who, you may recall, dropped her famous uncle’s name at the request of Trump. But that was way back in 2017. Republicans have lost a lot of elections since then, but McDaniel has continued being reappointed (four times). Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, for McDaniel) that streak has now come to an end.
Trump world is using the last few months of anemic fundraising for the group as an excuse for ousting McDaniel. But the problem of raising funds is not of her making. According to The Washington Post, some major donors have expressed concerns: “These people want to win elections, not pay lawyers.”
The fall saw a bad couple months for the RNC. In October, it raised $7.1 million to the Democratic National Committee’s $13.1 million. While raising a more robust $12 million in January, the group is still slightly panicked, according to reports. Sources mused to The Guardian that Nikki Haley dropping out would solve some of its cash crisis. But Haley isn’t the candidate with the millions of dollars in legal fees. In February, Forbes reported that the RNC faced a “poor financial showing after it reported its lowest fundraising totals in 10 years.”
Enter Lara Trump. Or, as she’d known in some circles, Eric Trump’s wife.








