RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel is once again putting her thumb on the scale for Trump. She did it from the beginning with the Republican presidential primary by allowing Trump to get away with not having to debate any of the other candidates. Now she's doing it again by urging Nikki Haley to drop out of the race following her loss in the New Hampshire primary.
McDaniel made an appearance on Fox this Tuesday night, and pretended that wasn't what she was doing, claiming it's the "voters" and not her telling Haley to get out.
BAIER: Your thoughts tonight. We have obviously the former president celebrating this win and Nikki Haley saying she's going to fight on. We have from the Haley campaign a sense that, you know, there are 430,000 voters that voted so far and they want to hear more from the other half of the party that is not supporting the former president. How do you look at tonight, and what's the RNC's take?
MCDANIEL: Well, one thing I will say about the whole field of candidates that have run for president on our side, I commend them. They've been great. This has been a great contest, but I think there's some history that was made tonight. We have never had a nominee in our party that has won, without winning both, without winning either Iowa or New Hampshire.
Donald Trump is the first ever to win both. I’m looking at the math and the path going forward, and I don’t see it for Nikki Haley. I think she’s run a great campaign, but I do think there is a message that’s coming out from the voters, which is very clear.
We need to unite around our eventual nominee, which is going to be Donald Trump, and we need to make sure we beat Joe Biden. It is ten months away until the November election, and we can't wait any longer to put our foot on the gas to beat the worst president, to beat the president that kept our borders open, allowed fentanyl to pour through, allowed inflation to go rampant. He is hurting the American people, and we need to do everything we can to unite so we can defeat him.
[…]
MCDANIEL: We saw Nikki really plant herself in New Hampshire with the support of Gov. Sununu, with these undeclared voters, with Democrats crossing over, and I just think if she came in second here, I don't see the path. President Trump won by double digits in both states. This is unprecedented. This isn't the RNC speaking. This isn't the establishment speaking. This is the voters speaking, and when you look at the path going forward, you know, we take personality out of it...
MACCALLUM: Are you telling Nikki Haley she needs to get out?
MCDANIEL: I'm just saying look at the path and the math, and I think you have to reflect tonight if you're in the Haley campaign and say, if I'm not on the ballot in Nevada, if I'm not going to maybe win my home state, what's the most important thing going forward?
And every Republican has to agree that Joe Biden is a threat to our country, and if we do not unite, and if we don't coalesce to beat him, then we're not going to be successful in ten months where the Senate is at stake, the House is at stake and the White House is at stake, and I just don't see the path and the math. I hope she reflects tonight. I think it's time to move forward and I think Donald Trump is going to be the nominee.
As Christopher Hale correctly noted on Twitter, this violates the RNC's rule #11 on candidate support:
