{"id":1035986,"date":"2024-06-15T21:12:57","date_gmt":"2024-06-15T21:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1035986"},"modified":"2024-06-15T21:12:58","modified_gmt":"2024-06-15T21:12:58","slug":"reminder-trumps-handpicked-rnc-chair-michael-whatley-is-an-election-denying-maga-loyalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/reminder-trumps-handpicked-rnc-chair-michael-whatley-is-an-election-denying-maga-loyalist\/","title":{"rendered":"Reminder: Trump\u2019s Handpicked RNC Chair Michael Whatley Is an Election-Denying MAGA Loyalist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As Trump\u2019s handpicked RNC Chair Michael Whatley speaks at the Turning Point Action conference in Michigan, <\/em>DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen Donald Trump handpicked Michael Whatley to be his new RNC chair, he got everything he wanted: An election-denying MAGA extremist who will put Trump\u2019s commands over everything else \u2014 including our democracy. Whatley may not be able to admit Trump lost the last election, but his tenure at the RNC will deliver another embarrassing defeat for Trump in November.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump elevated notorious election denier Michael Whatley to lead the RNC as part of his MAGA takeover. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cMr. Trump likes Mr. Whatley for one overwhelming reason, according to people who have discussed him with the former president: He is \u2018a stop the steal guy,\u2019<\/strong> as one of the people described him. He endorses Mr. Trump\u2019s false claims about mass voter fraud \u2026 Mr. Whatley has baselessly claimed that election security efforts from Republicans in North Carolina stopped Democrats from cheating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201cPeople seeking employment at RNC asked whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cTrump\u2019s Man at the R.N.C. Will Face Pressure to Satisfy His Election Lies\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Magazine<\/a>: \u201cTrump Taps Election Deniers Lara Trump, Michael Whatley to Lead RNC\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associated Press<\/a>: \u201cIn pushing Michael Whatley as the next leader of the Republican National Committee, Donald Trump zeroed in on the North Carolina GOP chairman\u2019s dedication to \u2018election integrity,\u2019 baselessly suggesting he would ensure the 2024 race \u2018can\u2019t be stolen.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cTrump repeated his false claims of the 2020 election being stolen and said that Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley was the most important person in the room because he is \u2018going to stop the cheating.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018We call it save the vote, guard the vote, stop the steal,\u2019 he said, referring to what the RNC needed to be doing. The RNC has launched a program called \u2018Bank Your Vote\u2019 to bring in early votes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201cLikely frontrunner for RNC chair parroted Trump\u2019s 2020 election lies\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMichael Whatley, the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, shared false claims that Republican observers were prevented from accessing polling locations and repeatedly said Democratic cities in swing states were engaged in \u2018massive fraud.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis elevation to RNC chair could give Trump a loyalist more willing to devote resources to pursue future voter fraud claims in court should they arise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Regardless of how these lawsuits come out around the country with the presidential race we do know that there was massive fraud that took place,\u2019 Whatley said in one late November 2020 interview on local North Carolina radio. \u2018We know that it took place in places like Milwaukee and Detroit and Philadelphia.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raleigh News & Observer<\/a>: \u201cWhatley has frequently repeated Trump\u2019s false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vice<\/a>: \u201cNorth Carolina Republican chair Michael Whatley falsely claimed in February that \u2018we certainly saw evidence of voting irregularities, of election counting irregularities in a number of places around the country,\u2019 and invented the claim that the reason Trump won North Carolina was his state party\u2019s vigilance against Democrats\u2019 attempts to cheat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley has also embraced Trump\u2019s lies about January 6, saying that neither Trump nor extreme Republicans were responsible for the riot.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NPR<\/a>: \u201cDoes the president bear any responsibility for lying to them for months about the results of the election, including on the day of the riot?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley: \u201cWell, I think the president certainly felt and still feels that there was massive voter irregularities across the country.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley is an anti-abortion extremist who celebrated the overturning of <\/strong>Roe v. Wade<\/em><\/strong> and called North Carolina Republicans\u2019 extreme abortion ban \u201cresponsible\u201d and \u201cmainstream.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raleigh News & Observer<\/a>: \u201cMichael Whatley, chairman of the N.C. GOP, said he was proud of activism on the part of the anti-abortion movement\u201d [after Roe v. Wade was overturned]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley<\/a> on North Carolina\u2019s extreme abortion ban: \u201cWell I think it\u2019s a responsible bill<\/strong>, I think that this is a legislative package that is well within the mainstream<\/strong> of North Carolina political thought, it\u2019s going to be supported, these are positions that are widely supported across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley has also consistently supported a MAGA platform that could rip away access to IVF \u2013 similar to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that Trump made possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popular Information<\/a>: \u201cTrump’s pick for chair of the Republican Party opposes \u2018the destruction of human embryos\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder [Whatley\u2019s] leadership, the North Carolina Republican Party has consistently opposed scientific procedures that involve discarding human embryos, saying such actions violate \u2018the sanctity of all human life.\u2019 <\/strong>The most recent version of the North Carolina Republican Party Platform, approved in 2022, states that \u2018[u]nborn children have constitutional rights to life and liberty and, the government must respect and protect all innocent human life from conception to natural death.\u2019 Specifically, the party opposes \u2018the destruction of human embryos.\u2019 A previous version of the platform under Whatley, approved by the North Carolina Republican Party in 2020, contains identical language. \u2026 The position of the North Carolina GOP under Whatley on embryos mirrors a recent decision by the Alabama Supreme Court.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley is in line with Trump\u2019s efforts to rip away health care \u2013 he has railed against the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley<\/a>: \u201cThat is going to have to be a process that\u2019s going to go through the House, going to go through the Senate because there\u2019s a lot of legislative fixes that you\u2019re going to need in there for Obamacare.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley<\/a> after North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper vetoed a budget that lacked Medicaid expansion: \u201cGovernor Cooper has chosen to hold NC hostage by vetoing a strong bipartisan budget bill which would help students, teachers and law enforcement in order to try to expand socialized healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019<\/a>: Whatley criticized Governor Cooper for pushing Medicaid expansion.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley has praised Trump\u2019s failed MAGAnomics agenda that included the worst jobs record since the Great Depression, a disastrous trade deal with China, and a tax scam that rigged the economy for the ultra-wealthy at the expense of America\u2019s middle class.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley<\/a>: \u201c[Trump] built the strongest economy in U.S. history by enacting historic tax cuts, dramatically cutting red tape, and bringing manufacturing back to America. \u2026 He has put America First by standing up to China and negotiating treaties, like the USMCA and Phase 1 China Trade Deal, which treat American farmers, manufacturers, and small businesses fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortune<\/a>: \u201cTrump to leave office with the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forbes<\/a>: \u201cTrump Tax Cuts Helped Billionaires Pay Less Taxes Than The Working Class In 2018\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg<\/a>: \u201cThe Offshoring of U.S. Jobs Increased on Trump\u2019s Watch\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNN<\/a>: \u201cTrump promised to win the trade war with China. He failed\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatley even refused to condemn a state House GOP candidate with ties to a neo-Nazi organization. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raleigh News & Observer<\/a>: \u201cNC GOP chair stays quiet about candidate\u2019s Nazi ties after failed effort at removal from ballot\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year, however, the state GOP, led by Chair Michael Whatley, has remained silent on a candidate with ties to a neo-Nazi organization.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJoseph Gibson III, a Rockingham County podcaster with past felony convictions, is running for a state House seat. \u2026 After Gibson was approved to be on the ballot, Whatley \u2014 who is now running to be chair of the Republican National Committee with former President Donald Trump\u2019s support \u2014 did not publicly condemn his candidacy.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Anti-Defamation League found that Gibson had ties to the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement and referred to him as a \u2018white supremacist and anti-government extremist.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ADL\u2019s report said Gibson participated in livestream events hosted by the NSM and in one instance messaged the channel saying \u201888,\u2019 a dog whistle used by white supremacists to mean \u2018Heil Hitler.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Trump\u2019s handpicked RNC Chair Michael Whatley speaks at the Turning Point Action conference in Michigan, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: \u201cWhen Donald Trump handpicked Michael Whatley to be his new RNC chair, he got everything he wanted: An election-denying MAGA extremist who will put Trump\u2019s commands over everything else […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1035986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReminder: Trump\u2019s Handpicked RNC Chair Michael Whatley Is an Election-Denying MAGA Loyalist - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/reminder-trumps-handpicked-rnc-chair-michael-whatley-is-an-election-denying-maga-loyalist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-06-15T21:12:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-15T21:12:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/reminder-trumps-handpicked-rnc-chair-michael-whatley-is-an-election-denying-maga-loyalist\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/reminder-trumps-handpicked-rnc-chair-michael-whatley-is-an-election-denying-maga-loyalist\/\",\"name\":\"Reminder: Trump\u2019s Handpicked RNC Chair Michael Whatley Is an Election-Denying MAGA Loyalist - 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