Emails Bare RNC Member Fury At Silence On Trump's Mar-A-Lago Dinner: Report

Communications obtained by Politico reveal party turmoil.
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Some members of the Republican National Committee were furious the committee didn’t immediately forcefully condemn Donald Trump and his Mar-a-Lago dinner last month with antisemitic Kanye West and his Holocaust-denying pal Nick Fuentes, according to email messages obtained by Politico.

A handful of RNC members directly denounced Trump in emails, and one pushed fellow members and RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to condemn his decision to host the dinner with antisemites.

“I am flabbergasted at the lack of outrage from Ronna about this,” Oscar Brock, a national committeeman from Tennessee, wrote in one of a series of private email threads, Politico reported.

“I tweeted to her yesterday, asking her to condemn this. We must, as a party, oppose all racism and prejudice, and condemn those who accept and endorse it, which includes inviting neo-nazi’s [sic] to dinner,” Brock added.

In another thread, committeeman Richard Porter from Illinois gushed in a Thanksgiving email about how grateful he was for the party, which is “dedicated to preserving, protecting and promoting our great nation.”

After the dinner, committeeman Bill Palatucci from New Jersey responded: “Is it just me or is anyone else struck by the incredible irony that Richard was writing these wonderful words within 48 hours of Donald Trump having dinner with anti-Semite Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, also an anti-Semite and a racist, white nationalist?”

Palatucci added: “All Republican leaders need to stand up and denounce Trump’s actions and lack of judgment here.”

Jay Shepard, a national committeeman from Vermont, emailed: “As individuals and as a party we must not tolerate people like Nick Fuentes and Kanye West. We should never ever give them a platform for their hatred. Giving them attention only divides us as a nation. No Republican should be associated with them, its [sic] not who we are.”

The messages were sent to all 168 committee members’ email addresses, Politico reported, and offer a window into the turmoil currently rocking the RNC with McDaniel at its head and Tump as the party’s first declared candidate.

McDaniel, who is running for reelection, did respond to the Mar-a-Lago dinner, but never mentioned Trump’s name. She called Ye’s comments “abhorrent,” adding: “There is no place for Kanye, Fuentes, or their views inside the Republican Party.”

McDaniel insisted in February — after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) spoke at a white nationalist conference organized by Fuentes — that “white supremacy, neo-Nazism, hate speech and bigotry are disgusting and do not have a home in the Republican Party.”

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