Republicans have woken up on debate day and realized that Trump screwed them and the party has no get-out-the-vote operation.
Semafor reported on Trump’s decision to dismantle the GOP get out the vote operation and outsource it:
The effort hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing, at least in the eyes of some members of the party: Multiple party leaders, former RNC members, and lawmakers have privately trashed what they see as a lack of a clear operation, and expressed concerns about how it could affect not just the fate of the presidential race, but downballot races as well.
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Behind the scenes, the concerns and criticisms are multifaceted. Some worry there’s a lack of a visible operation at this point in the race.
“I’m as plugged in as they get — and yet I don’t even know who my friends and family back home can contact for a yard sign or to knock doors in their precinct,” a Republican operative who votes in a swing state told Semafor.
The Republican Party has no formally organized the get-out-the-vote operation. When Trump took over the RNC, he dismantled the national effort so that the money could be redirected back into his campaign.
The Republican Party has a bunch of outside groups that are limited in what money they can use and how they can use it, along with state and local party organizations that vary wildly in terms of effectiveness.
In a close election, voter turnout operations can mean the difference between victory and defeat. In 2016, Trump had a well-organized operation that gathered information from rally attendees in swing states and converted them into voters.
All of that is gone in 2024.
Donald Trump has set Republicans up for defeat, and there is nothing that they can do about it less than two months before the election.
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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
