Republicans Are Changing Their Convention to Nominate Donald Trump

Republicans are looking to make some changes to the upcoming Republican National Convention (RNC) to nominate former President Donald Trump, according to new chairman Michael Whatley.

While appearing on Fox News' America's Newsroom on Friday, Whatley spoke about the national convention this summer and what type of changes voters can expect.

"We are very excited about the convention, we're very excited about going up to Milwaukee in July and putting on a world class showcase to formally nominate President Trump," Whatley said. "We will make a lot of different changes to the way we are approaching, and we are communicating with American voters, but the fact is that we want to use this as a showcase to talk to all 50 states across the country and voters in every single community."

Whatley added that the RNC will be fully focused on "the nuts and bolts, the mechanics of making sure that we win this election."

The Context:

Whatley was recently installed as the chairman of the RNC following then-chairwoman Ronna McDaniel's decision to step down. Trump's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who is married to Eric Trump, was elected as co-chair of the RNC.

"The RNC is going to be the vanguard of a movement that will work tirelessly every single day to elect our nominee, Donald J. Trump, as the 47th President of the United States," Whatley said during a speech after being elected.

What We Know:

During his appearance on America's Newsroom, Whatley spoke about how the RNC plans to maximize votes for their GOP nominee saying, "We need to turnout voters and we need to protect the ballot."

He added: "Every dollar that we raise, every dollar that we spend, is going to be focused on winning, it's going to be making absolutely sure that we are building out our vote and that we are going to protect the ballot."

Newsweek reached out to the RNC via its website for further comment.

Views:

Last month, Trump endorsed Whatley for RNC chairman.

"I think my friend Michael Whatley should be the RNC's next leader," the former president wrote in a statement, adding that he "has been with me from the beginning, has done a great job in his home state of North Carolina."

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, previously spoke about McDaniel's decision to step down and said, "I think this is a smart move on her part."

"I like what I'm seeing. I want to see more unity within the party.... We need to reach out and have more people join with us, from independents and Democrats that want to really look at the America they want to see going forward, they want to see for themselves and their children," McCarthy said during an interview with America's Newsroom.

What's Next?

On Thursday, Whatley issued a memo on behalf of the RNC and said, "As is tradition and governed by applicable law, the RNC is merging operations with the Trump campaign. We are now a united operation, and a united front."

Trump will likely appear at the RNC in July where he will be formally named the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential race.

Update, 3/15/24, 11:01 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with further information.

Update, 3/15/24, 11:43 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with further information.