Republicans confront bitter divide; no clear path forward

Ronna McDaniel has become the longest-serving leader of the Republican National Committee since the Civil War. “These people are not just going to forget.” Indeed, as RNC members packed up from the Waldorf Astoria ballroom on Friday, there was broad agreement that McDaniel’s reelection alone would do little to heal the gaping divide that plagues their party, even as she celebrated a notably decisive reelection victory. But conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a Trump loyalist, likened McDaniel’s successful reelection to a “middle finger” for the GOP’s grassroots who demanded change at the institution that leads the party’s political activities. “So, the grassroots of people that can’t afford to buy a steak and are struggling to make ends meet, they just got told by their representatives at an opulent $900-a-night hotel that, ‘We hate you.’” A similar sentiment roiled the Republican Party earlier in the month on Capitol Hill as Kevin McCarthy struggled through days of embarrassing defeats in his quest to become House speaker before acquiescing to the demands of the anti-establishment MAGA fringe. “The hard work now begins for bringing our party together,” said former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus, a former RNC chair who backed McDaniel’s reelection.