Harmeet Dillon, who s running for the Republican National Committee, joins us to talk about her campaign and why the party needs a new leader. Plus, we ask the question, why is the RNC not live streaming their meeting?
00:00:52.000He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
00:00:58.000We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
00:01:24.000Friday, the Republican National Committee will be meeting in person in Dana Point, California to decide who should be chairman or chairwoman.
00:02:33.000A lot of members are now just beginning to focus on this.
00:02:36.000We've been campaigning since December 5th when I announced, but suddenly, I think I had several hours worth of phone calls over the weekend with members who had yet to make up their minds.
00:02:47.000And I gave them my closing argument as to why I think we are at a crossroads in the party.
00:02:53.000And if we don't make these significant changes right now, like you said, we are at risk of losing.
00:02:59.000And that's not just about the party, Charlie.
00:03:03.000This country relies on a robust two-party system.
00:03:07.000And our country is suffering under the hands of one of those parties right now.
00:03:12.000And so this is really why I'm prepared to leave the comfort of my home, my law firm, my nonprofit, chair of the Republican lawyers, all of that behind to focus exclusively on turning the RNC around.
00:03:28.000And just to remind the audience, two things.
00:03:30.000The RNC, because of the way the federal election code is written, can do things that only the RNC can do.
00:03:37.000Now, that might sound self-evident, but no, a super PAC, a 501c4, is not able to coordinate with state committees, campaigns, share data, messaging, strategy.
00:03:47.000If we are serious about beating the Democrats in 2024, we need an RNC that is functional, that is raising money and deploying it correctly.
00:03:58.000Harmeet, talk about that because some people say, Oh, forget the RNC.
00:04:01.000I'm just going to do this on the outside.
00:04:04.000There might be some way we can move the dial there, but you're going to be running up against the inevitable, but only the RNC can do X. Right.
00:04:13.000So, the RNC is necessary, but not sufficient to be strong for candidates at the federal level to win.
00:04:21.000RNC gathers resources in large chunks.
00:04:24.000So, large donors who want to support the party can give hundreds of thousands of dollars.
00:04:28.000Whereas for campaigns, they're limited to a fraction of that, a tiny fraction of that.
00:04:33.000And so, with that money, what we're supposed to be doing with it is making sure that the data is there to support our campaigns because we can support, we can share that data with state parties and with campaigns.
00:04:45.000We want to make sure that people have a fundraising platform.
00:04:48.000So, Win Red was created for that reason.
00:04:50.000There's some tweaks maybe there, but that's a good idea.
00:04:53.000It's centralized, like Democrats act blue.
00:04:56.000We should be running air cover for our candidates by making sure that we are giving them resources.
00:05:01.000Messaging needs to be there to constantly be persuading voters.
00:05:06.000And then, finally, we have to be doing year-round election integrity and election operational efforts.
00:05:12.000That's been completely missing from the RNC for four of the last six years.
00:05:16.000And of the last two years, our focus on some lawsuits to get into lawsuits where the other side sued us has been an improvement.
00:05:26.000But I would say it's a drop in the bucket compared to what's needed.
00:05:29.000And more importantly, we did zero to prepare our states and our candidates and our field workers for how to cope with the new election laws.
00:05:38.000Universal vote by mail in some states, ballot harvesting, what we call ballot chasing, ballot curing.
00:05:45.000We may not like a lot of these things, and I don't, but while that's the law, if Democrats are voting for as much as 45 days in some states and we're voting for one, we lose before we even get to election day.
00:07:44.000And so, you know, I'm used to hearing from voters all over the country.
00:07:47.000And I think it's my job to listen to them.
00:07:49.000Be aware that many members, in fact, I got a threat from the chair of a party in the Midwest saying, if you don't make this stop, I'll not only not vote for you, I'll actively campaign against you and make sure you lose.
00:08:00.000This is the attitude of chairs of Republican parties in the United States.
00:08:04.000It's shocking, and that person needs to go.
00:08:06.000You keep on communicating with me, I'm going to destroy you.
00:08:09.000I mean, they can't really, they are so insulated from the people that they supposedly represent.
00:08:21.000I think everyone is, look, everyone in the Republican Party has heard what the numbers are.
00:08:27.000The numbers are 85, 90, 95% for change at the RNC, 99% in some polls.
00:08:33.000And so that said, you know, what we're going to be doing over the next several days in Dana Point, California, in the nice resort there, which is the location chosen by the chair, we will be meeting with members and trying to persuade them.
00:08:46.000There's a lot of horse trading, you know, deal making.
00:08:50.000Some people have called this akin to like a popularity contest in high school.
00:08:56.000It's unfortunate that our party has run this way, but I genuinely believe that almost all the members of the RNC have the right goals in mind, which is to do the right thing for the party.
00:09:06.000But, you know, when you have a lot of swamp folks and a lot of invested political consultants lobbying very hard and frankly, you know, using all the resources of the RNC against my campaign, you know, those are the odds.
00:09:20.000It's a challenge, but we are very honored to have the support of many of the major donors of the party, millions and millions of voters in the party.
00:09:30.000A lot of members of Congress as well have come forward to support us and virtually every conservative media commentator as well.
00:09:39.000So if the party doesn't listen to that and isn't persuaded by that and wants to stay the course, quote unquote, I mean, some of the things that members have said to me is, oh, Harmeet, you know, we can't change horses now.
00:09:51.000Well, where's that course leading you?
00:09:53.000Where has that course been over the last six years?
00:09:55.000That course is not leading you in the right direction.
00:09:58.000And if you stay on that course, you may go off a cliff.
00:10:03.000If we do not win in 2024, I'm afraid that we're going to be in a permanent minority status for a couple of decades in this country.
00:10:10.000I'm not trying to scaremonger here, but that's really what's at stake.
00:10:13.000And two major donors have already pulled their support, Bernie Marcus and Dick Uline, the two biggest donors in the Republican Party, saying that we are not going to continue to support the RNC if it continues in the direction of Ronald Romney.
00:10:23.000And I'm going to read a email I got from a seven-figure donor who gives a lot of money across the board and could give a lot more to the RNC about why he supports your candidacy, Harmeet, and thinks Rana is way off the reservation.
00:10:37.000Email sent by Mike Ryden, who is a serious donor to the Republican ecosystem, seven-plus figures a year.
00:10:47.000RNC members, the Republican National Committee is becoming less and less effective against a Democrat party that is trying to destroy this country.
00:10:56.000You are like the frog that sits in water waiting to be boiled.
00:11:00.000Our country is never going back to the good old days where you could do nothing of substance, run stupid and often insulting TV ads and still win.
00:11:08.000The Democrat Party machine has outsmarted you every step of the way.
00:11:11.000And the same RNC chair who cannot figure out how to win against the worst possible candidates imaginable is not going to save this country.
00:11:18.000Perhaps you can be excused for losing the 2020 election because you were taken by surprise.
00:11:23.000There is no excuse to have done so poorly in the midterm election.
00:11:28.000A good leader doesn't continually make excuses.
00:11:30.000They just figure out how to get the job done.
00:11:32.000We need a leader with the legal experience and expertise to beat the Democrats at their own game.
00:11:36.000And I think Harmeet Dillon is that leader.
00:11:39.000And perhaps you think it doesn't matter whether we win or not, because regardless of which party's in power, life will continue to get better and better here in the U.S. for you and your children.
00:11:47.000Perhaps you think that massive illegal immigration with no checks on who comes into the country isn't important.
00:11:52.000Perhaps you think that begging dictators for energy doesn't matter, or that an educational system that pushes propaganda and silences any opposing thought instead of teaching critical thinking and useful subjects doesn't matter.
00:12:02.000What about encouraging kids to attempt to change their gender at an early age or systemically trying to get white people and people of color to hate each other with CRT?
00:12:24.000I'm now telling other large donors to quit giving any money to the RNC and instead give to organizations that actually make a difference.
00:12:32.000It would be really nice to see if we can make a change that the Republicans across the nation could get confidence to invest in the RNC again.
00:12:38.000Currently, the RNC is a poor investment for most of America.
00:12:41.000Sincerely, Mike Ryden, who is one of the largest Republican donors in the country.
00:13:06.000And again, fundraising is necessary, but not sufficient.
00:13:10.000A shocking amount of the money that the RNC raises goes to overhead costs of fundraising, you know, double or triple what other organizations like us spend, sometimes quadruple in some categories.
00:13:47.000And I've called for a audit of the RNC's finances.
00:13:50.000And to be clear, you know, I think a lot of this is going on in the office while the chair is out fundraising.
00:13:57.000So I know she's doing her best to raise money, but at the same time, we have to be accountable for what happens with the money that we raise, and it's not good.
00:14:04.00020% of that money goes to the states to help elect Republicans.
00:14:29.000You don't get paid for your work that doesn't succeed in many instances, and you're held accountable and you don't keep getting rehired if you lose.
00:14:38.000But in the RNC, there's been virtually no turnover in the top recipients of our large S to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars for many years.
00:14:48.000So look, no leadership change or no leadership challenge since 12 years.
00:15:27.000We spend zero right now at the RNC on social media influencers, whereas the Democrats had these complete buffoons wandering around the White House and making content that's very popular with young people.
00:15:38.000We don't want that content, but we have our own content.
00:15:40.000Have so many great things to talk about, the future of this great country, life, the border, some of these issues that affect the lives of Americans.
00:15:48.000It is easy to make content about the crazy state of our country, but instead, it's business as usual, cocktail parties, and patting ourselves on the back.
00:15:59.000I got to get off the I got to get off that train.
00:17:16.000It can help with mental acuity with memory.
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00:19:55.000It's down to Rana versus Harmee, Dylan versus Mike Lindell.
00:19:59.000It looks like right now, Mike Lindell probably has probably about a handful of votes, I think, on the RNC right now from everything that we've seen.
00:20:08.000We've had a few people come out in vocal support, not many.
00:20:13.000Harmee, I think, is doing a little bit better than that.
00:20:16.000I think she is going to sail through what would become the first vote because you have to win a 50% plus majority.
00:21:12.000So it looks like right now that I think Rana is hovering right around the magic number.
00:21:19.000And Harmeet has been just cruising up.
00:21:23.000And I think that all of the Mike Lindell votes, if it goes the second round, are probably going to vote for Harmeet in the second round, right?
00:21:42.000I mean, this is like a really wild situation because you kind of have, you know, Trump's staying out for the most part right now, but he just endorsed for the co-chair, who's the state party chair from North Carolina, Michael Watley.
00:22:00.000So a lot of people are signaling and saying, well, that's Trump saying that he's supporting Rana, which I actually don't think helps Rana.
00:22:08.000I actually think there's a lot of people that are on the RNC, like all the Trump fans that I know are all supporting Harmeet.
00:22:15.000So, you know, it's kind of a screwed up scenario that we have here where like Kellyanne Conway, who has received some money from the RNC, and a lot of people, it seems like the only people that are out advocating for no change are the people who have been paid by the RNC, which I think is totally a conflict of interest.
00:22:34.000Yeah, I mean, it's an imbalance, right?
00:22:36.000So 90 to 98% of the grassroots, and I think 100% of our audience right now want to see a change at the RNC.
00:22:43.000They believe that losing is not acceptable.
00:22:46.000They believe that the current RNC is not getting the job done.
00:22:50.000Well, go ahead, and then I want to read one of these emails from a committee woman from Texas.
00:22:54.000Let me get into just real quickly why I'm so passionate about this, right?
00:22:59.000And again, this has nothing to do with Rana's personality, whatever.
00:23:02.000I think six years is a long time to be a party chair.
00:23:06.000It'll be eight years if she gets re-elected.
00:24:44.000But that means that the premise is so silly.
00:24:47.000And I'm going to read one of these emails here that one of our listeners forwarded because the email box are being flooded because we're telling people how to do that.
00:25:38.000She supported our efforts in Texas and has never failed to her commitment.
00:25:42.000Under her leadership, the RNC has spent millions in Texas to fund our first ever election integrity program, Fieldwork Community Centers, Voter Turnout.
00:25:48.000She worked tirelessly to help us keep Texas red.
00:25:51.000I could keep going, but I'm sorry, do we judge the RNC based on activity or results?
00:27:18.000Has nothing to do with like what we wish would come true.
00:27:21.000It has everything to do with you have to, you have to lay out a, if you're a general, you have to position your armies in the right places.
00:27:31.000You have to come up with a strategic plan and a backup plan and a backup to a backup plan in order to win the war.
00:27:55.000And by the way, some really great generals in the history of World Wars and the history of the Civil War were swapped out because they weren't meeting expectations.
00:28:05.000We're not dealing with a George Washington here, okay?
00:28:08.000Yeah, but yeah, in World War II, every 60 days they'd swip out a general.
00:28:11.000It doesn't matter if you were a nice person, a good author.
00:28:13.000And by the way, if eventually you get to Patton, who's ruthless, like, yeah, I'm going to take Europe.
00:28:48.000But here's the deal: like, you can't expect to do that over and over and over.
00:28:52.000And if you're losing, you got to swap out.
00:28:54.000You know, when we won in 2016 for Trump because of what we did here in Maricopa County, you know, I was like, there's no way I'm running for another term.
00:29:03.000Like somebody else has got to tag in because we had laid everything out on the field.
00:29:06.000If you're doing that properly, my opinion is this, it's very simple, is that if you're properly doing that, you are ready to tag someone else in.
00:29:14.000Yeah, I mean, this is, it's a big deal on Friday, everybody, and it's right on the margins right now.
00:29:21.000And look, I'm going to read another email here of an RNC committee person who said, you know, I'm behind Rana.
00:29:28.000This is someone who's vocally emailing back and forth.
00:30:01.000So look, I'm planning to be at the RNC meeting.
00:30:03.000Tyler, I don't know if they're going to allow me to speak in favor of Harmit or not, but if they do, my message is going to be very simple, which is 98% of the people you guys represent want to change in RNC leadership.
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00:31:34.000We have an audience here that I love and that they've been so good to us.
00:31:38.000And I feel an obligation to go to California, show up to the meeting.
00:31:43.000I really don't want to go, but whatever, and to be the voice of the grassroots because I'm so sick and tired of just looking at this stuff from afar, but it's super clubby.
00:31:52.000Yeah, I mean, Charlie, I mean, good for you for going.
00:31:58.000Well, just so you're aware, this is one of the reasons why the grassroots doesn't love the RNC is these are really shut down, closed-off meetings.
00:32:05.000And so when we did the grassroots report that we gave to Chairwoman McDaniel, what we said was, hey, like open these things up to the grassroots.
00:32:14.000We should be inviting in the general public into our meetings, not having these be like these clandestine, smoky backroom meetings, you know, which that's not the total thing, but like it's definitely not a warm, welcoming environment.
00:32:25.000And it won't be warm and welcoming for you.
00:32:27.000Sorry to interrupt, but just really quick, will they be live streaming this?
00:33:37.000And I was just in the room just like tweeting like, okay, this is underway.
00:33:42.000Like pretty normal, like live tweeting, like not even like hardcore live tweeting.
00:33:46.000It was just like positive things like, okay, this is about to take, because a lot of people were like interested in what was going on.
00:33:52.000And as I was tweeting, all positive things, mind you, it wasn't like negative anything.
00:33:57.000It was just like, oh, like they're getting ready to vote on this.
00:34:00.000I was just going to tweet out the result of the vote that it was moving on to the body.
00:34:05.000Yeah, I tweeted like, oh, this is about to happen.
00:34:07.000You know, Rana turns around and she goes, you can't tweet about this.
00:34:12.000Like to me, like in front of other people.
00:34:14.000As if you're in a skiff that you're like tweeting out classified information.
00:34:18.000And I love all my RNC members that are in there, but most of them are on Twitter and they're at Twitter Pros and like they have most of them are a little bit older and they're like, oh my gosh, like it was like some kind of like vile thing when like I'm actually trying to like help the RNC out and like do positive things so that people can see it before it like gets out of hand or like the grassroots gets upset because somebody didn't vote for something.
00:34:40.000Anyways, long story short, I was like, oh, I didn't realize like this was like some kind of closed off meeting to the world.
00:34:46.000Like this is like pretty public information.
00:34:48.000And it was at that moment I realized like the RNC has been operating under like this like idea of like secrecy for years and years and years.
00:36:50.000And when Harmeet ran for office in California, she's allegedly not pro-life.
00:36:56.000Sounds like some serious misinformation being spread.
00:37:00.000Yeah, Lila Rose from her organization, Live Action, came out and did, I think she did a statement or a video for Harmeet, like saying, like, that's not true.