Democratic strategist James Carville said people who are donating money to the Republican National Committee (RNC) and former President Trump are “begging to be stolen from,” as Trump attempts to make his daughter-in-law the committee’s co-chair.
“These people want to be stolen from,” Carville told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki. “The people that give Trump money or the RNC money are begging to be stolen from and Trump is going to accommodate them. They’re very blunt and very upfront about what they’re doing.”
Trump, who remains the likely GOP nominee, recently named his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, and North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley as his picks to serve as co-chairs of the committee. Current chair Ronna McDaniel is stepping down on March 8 “to allow our nominee to select a Chair of their choosing.”
Lara Trump said earlier this month that "every single penny" raised by the RNC would go toward "the No. 1 and the only job of the RNC — that is elected Donald J. Trump as president of the United States and saving this country.”
While campaigning for Trump in South Carolina ahead of the state’s primary, she said Republican voters would support having the committee pay for his mounting legal matters.
"They feel like it’s an attack not just on Donald Trump but on this country,” she said of the legal cases. “So yeah I think that is a big interest to people, absolutely.”
However, a member of the RNC said it would be “totally misleading” for the committee to spend campaign funds on any candidate’s legal fees, and has floated two draft resolutions that would prevent the committee from doing so.
Carville argued that supporters can do what they want. “And so, if people want to give Trump money, then go ahead and give it to him,” he said, in an interview highlighted by Mediaite.
The strategist argued that he knows many Republicans from his time in Washington who believe that Trump is “siphoning off” money from congressional candidates.
“You know something, they’re right,” he said. “Please put Lara Trump over that. Please steal every dollar you can get.”
Carville said the RNC pouring money into Trump's legal cases provides an opportunity for Democrats to win. He said Democrats should “press, press, now” in states like Michigan and Arizona, where he said the GOP is “falling apart” and its candidates are “underfunded.”
