It appears that Donald Trump is already lining up a scapegoat if he loses the election - chair of the Republican National Committee Michael Whatley.
Trump has given Whatley the mission of building the Republicans’ sizable “election integrity” group. The ex-commander-in-chief has been using his false claims about election fraud to argue that he didn’t lose the 2020 election and has been saying during the 2024 campaign that Vice President Kamala Harris can only win by cheating.
The Republicans claim that they have accumulated as many as 200,000 poll watchers and poll workers. The program is set to be used to gather evidence of voter fraud amid GOP lawsuits taking aim at rules governing voting eligibility and ballot processing procedures, Axios notes.
The program has taken on a larger role within the party than actual voter outreach.
Trump called out Whatley during a rally in North Carolina, where Whatley has been the state GOP chair, last month, saying, “We’re counting on this guy ... you better win or you’re never going to be able to come back here. He doesn’t win, he won’t be at RNC and he will no longer be in North Carolina. He’ll be looking for a job.”
In private, Trump has said that the only reason he may lose is if Whatley fails in upholding “election integrity,” according to Axios.
Under Whatley’s leadership, the RNC has sent Trump supporters to state offices on the county and secretary of state levels running paid poll workers programs, and the chair has hired attorneys, including Christina Bobb, who has spread false claims about the 2020 election.
Trump aides Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita told Axios that Whatley has done a “phenomenal job.”
“President Trump and his team have the utmost confidence in Chairman Whatley and everything the RNC has done to win this election,” they added.
A colleague who warned Whatley before he became GOP chair that he would be the target of Trump’s fury if the former president loses the election told Axios that Whatley is well aware of his predicament.
“‘He’s like, ‘I know that if we lose, I’m gonna get the blame,’” the colleague told the outlet.
Trump has instructed the RNC to focus on “election integrity” while he focuses on getting Republican voters to turn up to vote.
In August, Trump said in Asheboro, North Carolina that “Our primary focus is not to get out to vote,” but instead to “make sure” that Democrats “don’t cheat, because we have all the votes you need.”
There’s no evidence of widespread election fraud and officials called the 2020 election the “most secure in American history.”
