New Trump political group could sideline RNC

Trump’s lieutenants are comparing the new group, still under development, to Organizing For Action, the political nonprofit formed by President Obama to harness the grassroots energy that propelled his campaigns and promote his legislative agenda.

Democrats blame OFA for steering resources and activism that is the lifeblood of any party organization away from the Democratic National Committee, leaving it atrophied and ineffective as it prepares for an uncertain, post-Obama future.

Republicans fret that Trump’s 501(c)4 could similarly undercut the Republican National Committee. The fear is that it would weaken the RNC financially and organizationally, damaging the party down ballot even as it possibly boosts the president-elect’s 2020 re-election bid, as OFA did for Obama in 2012.

“This group could easily have more power and more money to affect public policy than the RNC,” Saul Anuzis, a former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, said Tuesday.

Trump’s plans for the new political group, and internal deliberations on how it might operate, were first reported by Shane Goldmacher of Politico.

Political nonprofits tend to operate as issue-advocacy organizations. They don’t have to disclose donors, but their purely political activity is limited by the Internal Revenue Service, per their designation as a 501(c)4, which the Trump group will likely be.

Still, a broad portfolio is envisioned for the president-elect’s political organization, sources tell the Washington Examiner.

Driving Trump’s message, promoting legislation and communicating with his loyal base of voters are to be the group’s priorities. Trump’s inner circle of advisors think it will play a significant role in helping to elect GOP senators in 2018 and preparing for 2020.

And Trump’s team hopes to learn from the OFA-DNC experience, describing the organization as a supplement to the RNC, rather than a competitor. Some GOP insiders say that it could prove helpful to the party, despite the threat others see to the RNC.

But the new group would answer to Trump’s inner circle, including son-in-law Jared Kushner chief political advisor Steve Bannon and could be overseen day-to-day by Brad Parscale, the Trump campaign’s digital director and long-time vendor for the president-elect’s businesses.

Trump Tower loyalists remain suspicious of the GOP because it was slow to embrace the president-elect. They view themselves as better positioned than the party to maintain Trump’s relationship with his blue-collar base, and more committed to doing so.

That could set up a power struggle with Reince Priebus, the outgoing RNC chairman whom Trump tapped as his White House chief of staff. Priebus believes in the supremacy of the committee and wants it to flourish under Trump.

The conflict could extend to Congressional leaders and other GOP committees responsible for overseeing elections should they, too, be forced to compete with the new Trump group for money and manpower.

The question is whether the Trump entity acts narrowly as a megaphone for the president-elect’s agenda in Washington or markets itself as a political alternative to the RNC and the campaign arms of House and Senate Republicans — the NRCC and the NRSC, respectively.

If focused on amplifying Trump’s agenda and in close coordination with the traditional Republican political organizations in order to avoid conflicting messages, the president-elect’s group could be a value-add for the party, GOP strategists say.

But, for instance, if the group confuses voters by running ads that directly contradict what is coming from GOP congressional campaigns or pitches campaign donors on giving to it to help elect Republicans to Congress in 2018, the results could be disastrous.

Campaign contributors who want to curry favor with the president — or don’t know the difference — might give to his group rather than the NRCC, NRSC, and their affiliated super PACs.

That could hurt Republicans running in the next midterm election because those party organizations can spend more directly, and liberally, on political activity than a nonprofit, and accordingly can have more impact on House and Senate races.

“This new group could be really helpful to Republicans — or not,” a GOP insider said. “It will need to work well with RNC and not get involved in a tug-of-war.”

“President Obama’s insistence on OFA running parallel to the DNC cost the DNC dearly in terms of talent, message, and dollars,” a Republican official aligned with Priebus said. “The same thing could happen to Republicans down the road.”

Democrats involved in party organizing during Obama’s eight years say that OFA was an effective vehicle for promoting the president and facilitating his re-election amid a tough political environment.

But it came at a cost to the DNC.

Democratic insiders recall trips Obama and Vice President Joe Biden made to parts of the country during which they could not get local party volunteers admittance to events with the president and vice president, only to discover later that local OFA volunteers had been invited.

Obama channeled money and activism through OFA, rather than the DNC. That is why the DNC infrastructure is so weak at the national, state and local level and why the party’s premier national committee is such an anemic fundraiser, even with control of the White House.

“Obama supplanted the party by creating OFA,” a Democratic operative and DNC alumnus said.

Republican insiders caution that a similar fate could await their party.

The Trump transition operation did not respond to a request for comment.