It is quite possible that the most consequential development from last week was completely and totally missed by most of the media. The news sent shockwaves through alternative media, and was celebrated by legions of America-First voters. But among the mainstream, corporate news, it barely registered. Benny Johnson, however, isn’t the mainstream, corporate news.
The big news is this – the Republican National Committee is finally taking the issue of free, fair and honest elections seriously. And a few media personalities certainly did notice.
On March 8th, the RNC announced Michael Whatley as its new Chairman. After years of lukewarm support from the national party toward the most popular Republican president in the modern era, Ronna Romney McDaniel’s tenure at the head of the Committee ended. The new leadership group immediately cleaned house and began laying the groundwork for a revamped get-out-the-vote effort in 2024. The change in personnel was so large and abrupt, many in the mainstream media referred to it as a “bloodbath.”
Talk show host Benny Johnson welcomed newly-named RNC Co-Chair, Lara Trump, to the program to discuss the organization’s revamped way of thinking for the sprint to November.
“One of the biggest lies, the most pernicious lie I think, that’s ever been told to the American people is that 2020 was the most secure election in our lifetime,” Johnson began. “You’ve leveled a lawsuit against Michigan. Now you’re saying the RNC is going to invest big time in chasing ballots. Can you talk me through the structure of ensuring that, let’s just call it all of the shenanigans, the funny business, the downright criminality, the illegality and the rigging in the electoral process does not happen again in 2024?”
“Yeah, I mean look. There are millions of people, I’m going to say 75 million-plus Americans, who still are like, what the hell happened in 2020?” Lara Trump answered. “They didn’t get any answers. They all wanted us to move on. But they all feel like something was awry, something was amiss. Because let’s be honest, 81 million people were not so inspired by a guy campaigning out of his basement, who could barely string two sentences together, that they said we’re going to come out big for this guy. Absolutely not. No one believes that.”
After the GOP was caught flat-footed in 2020 with floods of new, pandemic-related voting protocols in place, Republicans have finally committed to playing the game as is. Certainly, the party aligns with most Americans in favoring voter identification and in-person voting. That is not currently how the game is played, however. And at long last, the GOP is determined to win the game as it stands today. They are, in essence, freeing the one hand they had tied behind their back.
“So at the RNC, it is something that we’re taking incredibly seriously. We have the first-ever Election Integrity Division. This is an entire wing of the building dedicated solely to that. So how do you do that? Right now you just talked about a lawsuit we have in Michigan. We have in 23 states, 78 lawsuits single-handedly to address this issue. To make it easier to vote and harder to cheat in 2024,” Lara Trump said.
Many Americans are still perplexed about how Donald Trump won on all previously predictive metrics in 2020 – and led decisively late into Election night – only to see floods of ballots erase his lead in the wee hours of the morning. Lara Trump told Johnson that these new measures will help protect the integrity of the vote, both before and throughout Election Day.
“We know about all the states who illegally changed their voting laws in 2020, under the guise of Covid. It flipped some of those back around, but it also adds an extra layer of protection on top of that. In addition, we now have the ability to train poll workers. These are not just poll watchers, people who physically stand in a polling location and kind of look around and maybe might be able to see something.
“These are people, Benny, who get to handle a ballot. Who can count the ballots coming in and the ballots going out, so they know what the numbers should be at the end of the day,” Lara Trump explained.
Lara Trump noted how the RNC’s new leadership immediately defined the problem and identified specific states where it was most rampant. But she adds that this was only the first step.
“On top of that we are also hiring and we are asking for volunteer attorneys all across this country,” she told Johnson. “We want you in a polling location near you every single minute that there is polling going on, because we want to be able to address a problem immediately, in real time.
“We cannot wait until it’s too late. We also have to strike the fear of God in people who would ultimately be cheating in this capacity. If you are a person who is paid to cheat, do not do it because we will come after you. The full extent of the law will be laid on you. We will prosecute the hell out of you. It’s not worth it. Don’t do it.”
In another move that had social media network X ablaze in the last week, Lara Trump said the RNC will be making moves to bring many effective, yet unheralded, grassroots activists into the fold.
“We also have to start thinking about things like legal ballot harvesting. Something we’ve never embraced as a party. We’re going to start doing it now. I’m going to have a call very soon with Scott Presler, who is an amazing vote registerer. He has registered so many people in this country. I think he’s fantastic. I want him on our legal ballot harvesting division.”
Benny Johnson nodded with approval, seeming pleased that many of the approaches he has advocated for in past years now appear to be welcomed by the party apparatus.
“We also have to embrace early voting, Benny. I know we want one-day voting in this country. It doesn’t exist right now. We’ve got to bank enough votes going into November 5th that we’re not playing catch up on Election Day,” Lara Trump told him. “We need to swamp the system so it doesn’t matter how many 3 am drops they have, or suitcases filled with ballots. There will be no question on the night of November 5th that Donald Trump is elected as the 47th President.”
“So unbelievably based that I got chills,” Johnson said. “I’m sitting here, the entire team is like, cheering and screaming online. Yes, Scott Presler! Please! He’s such an ally of the show. We love him so much. And so this will finally become real. The internet will win and Scott Presler will be part of the integrated process to actually save America.”
“He is the first person I thought of whenever the whole idea of the RNC was floated to me. I said if I end up there, if I am Co-Chair of the RNC, I want to bring him in. Because what a job that guy has done. Not only should he be rewarded for it, but we want to give him more jobs to do up until November 5th and well beyond,” Lara Trump said.
In an effort to match the mood of America at large, the RNC’s approach seems to have shifted massively this month. Time will tell if it will produce the result they, and other hosts like Benny Johnson, desire later this year.
Rick Schultz is a former Sports Director for WFUV Radio at Fordham University. He has coached and mentored hundreds of Sports Broadcasting students at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, Marist College and privately. His media career experiences include working for the Hudson Valley Renegades, Army Sports at West Point, The Norwich Navigators, 1340/1390 ESPN Radio in Poughkeepsie, NY, Time Warner Cable TV, Scorephone NY, Metro Networks, NBC Sports, ABC Sports, Cumulus Media, Pamal Broadcasting and WATR. He has also authored a number of books including “A Renegade Championship Summer” and “Untold Tales From The Bush Leagues”. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @RickSchultzNY.
