Country star John Rich slammed the Republican National Committee following a report from conservative outlet RedState about purported lavish expenditures amid an election season that turned out terribly for the Grand Old Party.
The RedState report claimed data showed the RNC spent tens of thousands at clothing retailers, and large amounts on NFL tickets and private plane travel. According to Fox News host Tucker Carlson, the RNC contended the RedState piece to be blatantly false because the expenditures accounted for about 1% of the funds raised by Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
On "Tucker Carlson Tonight," Rich condemned the expenditures after Carlson said the DNC reportedly did not have similar debits on their ledger.
The Big & Rich member said he also did not like how the RNC had been publicly saying they were fighting for Trump after the 45th president lost his election, in comparison to the actual support he felt they were showing the real estate mogul.
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"That's when I realized that the RNC, right after [the 2020] election, when Trump lost the election, they were running commercials on TV that said, 'we're fighting for Trump so donate to the RNC because we're fighting for Trump'. And they knew that all the conservative base out there was fired up and would send in a lot of money."
Rich later referenced a 2021 cease-and-desist battle that cropped up between Trump and the RNC, wherein attorneys for the former president sent such notices to the RNC and other GOP committees in regard to the use of Trump in fundraising endeavors.
The singer remarked that in recent times, the term RINO – Republican in Name Only – is no longer operable because it is "defamatory to the noble rhinoceros."
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"I wouldn't call them that anymore. I would call them ‘Judas Republicans’ because they betrayed the trust of the people. They took their money and they never intended on using that money for what they said they were going to use it for," he claimed.
Rich said that until the RNC elects new leadership that "talks like us and supports what we support," Republicans should no longer financially support it.
"I know I won't, and I hope nobody else does either," he said.
McDaniel, a former Michigan GOP chair and niece of Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah who has long enjoyed a cooperative and friendly relationship with Trump, is facing some competition in the upcoming committee election.
Former California Republican Party Vice Chairwoman Harmeet Dhillon – a current RNC committeewoman from the Golden State and frequent guest on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle," – recently announced her bid to oppose McDaniel.
Earlier this month, Dhillon appeared with Carlson on his program to announce her bid, saying that Republicans are "tired of losing" and that the RNC must reshape the way it handles elections, remarking that some aspects seem like they belong in the 1990s and the aughts.
