Rona McDaniel accomplished something during the turbulent years of highs and lows that not all of Donald Trump’s classmates could: she remained unwavering.

But everyone is subject to the laws of attraction in contemporary Republican politics, even RNC chairpersons. In essence, Trump is angry with nearly everybody.

The intention is for the chairman of the Republican National Committee to resign this spring. His choice ends a remarkable four-term presidency that was historic and a clear illustration of the Republican Party’s metamorphosis.

McDaniel maneuvered around shifts and alliances to get Trump’s cooperation and support, just like the party did. Regarding her choice to renounce her maiden name Romney at Trump’s request, a lot of writing has been done. However, McDaniel chose a more significant course that mirrored Trump’s political fantasies and was intended to push the party away from its roots, where she herself was raised. In the face of extensive deceit, threats to destroy her party, losing the 2020 election, and subsequent attempts to invalidate the results, She remained by his side.

Ultimately, it proved insufficient, and at the behest of President Trump, McDaniel made the decision to resign. After spending close to two hours at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, Trump wrote on social media that McDaniel was a “friend,” but that they will make a decision regarding the “RNCC’s future” the following day in the “South Carolina primary.”

Speaking under anonymity, an RNC member stated, “Trump is solely devoted to himself. He’ll throw his kids under the bus if necessary.” Regarding the challenges facing the Republican Party, several members have stated in recent years, “None of it is their fault.”

McDaniel now wonders whether she could have done something differently in addition to whether or not this was all worthy of her.

Another RNC member who was given permission to talk candidly about McDaniel and maintain her anonymity stated, “I think she’s a very loyal person – she was loyal to Trump, she was loyal to her staff,” “I like her. I think she’s a good person.”

The member continued, nevertheless, saying, “I think she was an unsuccessful chair.”

Few, if any, contend that the RNC’s overall electoral success under McDaniel’s leadership. In the 2018 midterm elections, the Republican Party picked up two Senate seats, but lost forty House seats, the president in 2020, and both chambers of Congress in 2022. Critics have also long cited McDaniel’s inability to restructure the RNC workforce. The party was forced to accept these electoral setbacks and concentrate on the drop in donations.

Supporters and even some detractors of McDaniel claim that she was subjected to partisan criticism, which made her position difficult. She was made fun of for supporting Trump either too little or too much over her whole term. Additionally, they claim that Trump took the brunt of the party’s shortcomings on himself. It was frequently attributed to him.

The RNC chair has an extremely difficult job because of the office work, managing COVID, and the previous president’s legal issues. Since the national committee lacked more sophisticated digital operations, voters shifted their support away from the GOP.

Tennessean national committee member Oscar Brock, who voted against Ronna’s reelection for a fourth term last year, said, “If you ask me what Ronna could have done better for the party, I don’t know if I have that answer.” She was undeniably the lieutenant of Donald Trump. She was the party host, not Ronna.”

Republicans contend that even the most recent fundraising issues at the RNC were partially caused by Trump, who ran away with small-dollar donations for his own campaigns and drove out some large, institutional contributors from the organization.

According to Scott Walker, a former governor of Wisconsin, “They’re not only getting small-dollar donations.” “If Trump doesn’t like someone, many big donors either stay away or give directly to the president.”

According to McDaniel, “It’s really a tough place.”

But McDaniel also didn’t play the sidelines during the Trump administration. As a top deputy, she reallocated millions of committee resources to support her aims, which included paying their legal fees and ensuring electoral integrity.

Another RNC member freely expressed, speaking in anonymity, “In the end, her performance as chair’speaks for herself.” “We lost the House, the Senate, and the White House while she was chair – the first time in RNC history.

McDaniel continued to enjoy the support of prominent funders and many RNC members in spite of those historic defeats. She earned a sizable majority for reelection even though she had to contend with a significant challenge in the most recent winter.

Her supporters contend that her accomplishments—which included creating the “Election Integrity” department, severing ties with the Presidential Debate Commission, expanding the RNC’s outreach to minorities by opening community centers across the country, growing the organization’s email list from 3 million to over 50 million members, and assisting in the establishment of WinRed, an online fundraising platform for Republicans to donate small amounts of money as an alternative to Democrats’ ActBlue—were underappreciated.

In 2022, she warned Republican contenders ahead of time that in order to appeal to suburban women, their abortion-related messaging needs to be improved.

In the end, though, the party was unable to discover the appropriate message. Furthermore, the work she conducted elsewhere might not succeed because, according to recent reports, the community centers that were highly advertised are suddenly closing.

In a letter to committee members on Wednesday, McDaniel said that she is “committed to our mission” and that “contrary rumors are not true.”

With the exception of a statement about McDaniel’s status that was made public on Tuesday night, an RNC representative said, “Nothing has changed. The choice will be decided following the primary in South Carolina.

Although McDaniel benefited from being close to Trump—something that few others had been able to do in recent months—the former president and his group voiced dissatisfaction with choices made over the distribution of RNC funds and primary debate hosting. McDaniel kept his word to stay impartial during the campaign. On the other hand, McDaniel moved in Trump’s preferred direction following Nikki Haley’s defeat in New Hampshire, stating that it’s time for the outgoing president to “unite” around a possible candidate. It turned out to be insufficient.

There was a stir last week when McDaniel’s impending resignation was revealed during a committee meeting in Las Vegas. During last Wednesday’s members-only meeting, a few members expressed dissatisfaction with the committee’s financial management, according to two individuals who were privy to the discussions. But the 168 RNC members present at the Horseshoe Casino carried on with their extensive business, and worries of impending exodus subsided.

Many members were taken aback when word of their probable departure leaked on Tuesday night, and phones began ringing nonstop. When it became apparent that it was true, people publicly voiced their shock at what McDaniel ought to have done—knowing when to change course—that many others traveling to Las Vegas or working for Trump had not done.

According to Brock, “I think one thing she could have done differently was not to run again in the primary a year ago.” “Someone needs to accept responsibility when we repeatedly perform badly for up to three cycles in a row. Someone must take the loss.”