Beltway GOP types have caught the vapors this week because former President Donald Trump has announced that he will not sign the so-called "Beat Biden Pledge." The Republican National Committee has insisted that all candidates must sign the pledge if they wish to participate in the debates scheduled to begin next Wednesday in Milwaukee, WI.
The agreement is tantamount to a "loyalty pledge" that commits each candidate to support the party's nominee, regardless of the outcome of the pending primary season.
It makes sense that Ronna McDaniel, the RNC's seemingly once and future chairperson, would want the field of politicians to commit to supporting the chosen one. What's the point of a political party process if the sore losers in such an endeavor can just take their ball and go home?
However, the histrionics over Trump's refusal are beyond disingenuous, considering a couple of hard-to-ignore factors.
First and foremost: Trump is far and away the front-runner in this campaign. He is over 50% nationally now, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, and he is trouncing all pretenders in the New Hampshire primary polls with Gov. Ron DeSantis a distant third (!) behind Chris Christie.
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It seems kind of insulting to force Trump to sign a loyalty pledge, considering he dominates the field and he holds sway over the largest, most passionate block of voters: MAGA.
But even more significant is the hypocrisy of the RNC demanding loyalty from Trump, considering what happened in 2015 when we faced the exact same scenario.
You'll remember that then-Chairman Reince Preibus forced a pledge on all GOP nominees that year. The pledge read:
“I, ________, affirm that if I do not win the 2016 Republican nomination for President of the United States I will endorse the 2016 Republican presidential nominee regardless of who it is. I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party.”
But let's be real. Given the actual intent of the pledge, it should've read: "I Donald Trump, promise not to run third-party if I lose the nomination," because that's all Jeb! and Kasich and Carly really cared about back then. They were terrified that when they, the establishment candidates, won the nomination, Trump would throw a hissy fit and do a Perot.
Preibus was so happy when he got Trump to sign the pledge that he actually made a big show of it in the lobby of Trump Tower.
So...once Trump won the nomination, how'd all that party loyalty work out?
Jeb! refused to endorse or support him. "Donald Trump has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character. He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And, he is not a consistent conservative. These are all reasons why I cannot support his candidacy," he wrote on Facebook.
Carly went on to oppose Trump's nomination and spoke out against loyalty to him in the 2020 primaries.
"In this country, we pledge allegiance to the flag, not the president. We swear fidelity to the Constitution, not the party," she said at the time. This, of course, was just a few years after demanding the RNC's 2015 loyalty pledge.
And Kasich? Kasich spoke at the 2020 Democrat Convention...on behalf of Joe Biden. There's your loyalty pledge, Ronna!
Why in hell should Trump sign a loyalty pledge that is unenforceable and the very same RNC allowed to be violated by such luminaries as Bush and Kasich? He shouldn't.
And, more importantly, Ronna McDaniel should've never insisted on it. It's not only insulting to Trump, but it's hypocritical.
Worse, she has now put herself in a horrible situation.
Say Trump shows up Wednesday for the debate (as I think he should). Is Ronna gonna keep him from the debate stage because he hasn't signed a pledge? If she does, the debate is no longer the biggest story of the night and her sideshow has undermined the other candidates.
If she does, then she shows the pledge to be the sham it is and insults the other candidates who were compelled to sign.
Either way, this is a self-inflicted mess of a situation.
To paraphrase Will Rogers: I don't belong to any organized political party, I'm a Republican.
