An urgent meeting has been set for Monday at RNC headquarters amid a firestorm of outrage among grassroots conservatives over RNC Chairperson Ronna McDaniel, sources tell the Todd Starnes Radio Show.
McDaniel did not respond to requests for a comment.
Pastors are mobilizing congregations across the country to speak out after McDaniel unilaterally announced the launch of “RNC Pride Coalition,” a partnership between the RNC and Log Cabin Republicans. The announcement was made at a lavish event held at Mar-a-Lago with President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump in attendance.
“Conservatives in Log Cabin don’t just share our vision for a free, secure and prosperous America — they enrich it by adding unique perspectives to our party and recruiting even more diverse candidates and supporters to join our cause,” McDaniel told Fox News.
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However, grassroots conservatives say they were blindsided by the announcement and they expressed grave concerns that the coalition will soon lead to an all-out intra-party war over the GOP’s platform.
“There are a lot of RNC members in leadership positions that are upset about this because they were not told,” Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said on the Todd Starnes Radio Show. “This was something that Ronna did on her own.”
Perkins is among the most vocal Christian conservative leaders caling for McDaniel to be removed from office.
“Quite frankly, I think it’s time for her to to take up something else and leave the party to those who I think can chart a path forward to restore what has been lost and make sure that the Republicans, the Conservatives regain the majority both in Congress and continue to see victories and gains in states across the nation,” Perkins told Starnes.
However, McDaniel’s ouster is not likely.
Gay Republicans say the coalition is simply a way to affirm that the LGBT community is welcome in the Grand Old Party.
“This new unity couldn’t come at a more critical time. The left-wing agenda of the Biden administration is shaking America to its core and jeopardizing our country’s future,” Jason Godfrey, the president of the Tampa Bay Log Cabin Republicans wrote in the Palm Beach Post. “It is more important than ever that we come together as conservative like-minded individuals, regardless of our sexual orientation, to elect more conservative Republicans to Congress and fight back.”
RNC committee members have been deluged with phone calls and emails since the announcement demanding to know of McDaniel is moving the party’s positions on social issues to the left.
In an effort to save face, McDaniel is expected to announce Monday on the conference call that the GOP is launching a number of other coalitions. She is also expected to acknowledge they fumbled the launch of the Pride Coalition.
“The problem is this is a group that is advocating for policies 180 degrees from the party platform,” said a key GOP leader who asked not to be identified. “The question is whether the 168 Republican committeemen and women endorse what McDaniel has done. And that’s what every grassroots Republican around the country should be asking of their representatives.”
Sources say that several enraged Republican leaders are going to demand McDaniel explain why she chose to act unilaterally on such an important issue. Why was there no debate or discussion?
“This is going to alienate the grassroots,” another source said. “We just won huge victories in Virginia primarily on the issue of transgenderism in public schools. Is Ronna now telling our party that we made a mistake in doing that? Is the GOP now affirming that it’s okay for boys and girls to use the bathrooms of their choosing?”
Pastors are expected to address the issue from pulpits on Sunday — urging their congregations to call RNC headquarters and demand that RNC leadership defend the GOP platform.
Perkins told Starnes that McDaniel is moving the party in a direction that makes it incompatible with religious freedom.
“We love all people, but we don’t love all ideas,” Perkins said. “Not all ideas are equal.”
“We’ve affiliated with a party and I’ve been a part of writing their party’s platform for the last three cycles. That is very clear about religious freedom. It’s very clear about marriage, human sexuality,” Perkins said. “There are those now that want to change that. And as you move to be quote unquote inclusive with those that have radical ideas of human sexuality, which are hostile to religious freedom, the Republican Party becomes just Democrat-lite. And that’s what I’m concerned about.”