UPDATE (March 19, 2024, 4:19 p.m. ET): A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee told NBC News on Tuesday that it will not be hiring conservative activist Scott Presler.
The news keeps getting better and better for the Democrats following Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican National Committee.
On Thursday, RNC co-chair Lara Trump announced she hopes to hire Scott Presler, a conservative activist who has shared QAnon messages on social media, organized “anti-Sharia law” protests and appeared outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, to lead the party’s so-called “legal ballot harvesting” initiative — essentially a get-out-the-vote effort aimed at getting Republicans to vote early in person and make sure they return their mail ballots.
(The bizarre turn of phrase here comes because Republicans have long argued that “ballot harvesting” is — or at least, should be — illegal, but now that they are playing catch-up to Democrats on early voting, they need to finesse the fact that they want to do it too.)
Why is this good for Democrats? Because it’s a sign that the RNC is increasingly staffing up with a team of B-level (or worse) staffers who are more focused on spouting conspiracy theories and getting internet clout than actually doing the grueling, substantive work of winning an election.
USA Today explained Presler’s M.O. early last year, when he visited Pennsylvania in anticipation of elections in the state last fall.
The outlet reported:
MAGA Republicans in Pennsylvania often refer to the debunked conspiracy film “2000 Mules” to bolster their assertions that the 2020 election outcome was fraudulent. Playing off former President Donald Trump’s claims about widespread cheating, the movie asserts that nefarious political operatives, or “mules,” illegally collected ballots and stuffed drop boxes to help President Joe Biden capture victory. But this month, GOP activist Scott Presler told Pennsylvania Republicans they must start embracing legal ballot collection and mail-in voting, the very systems that three years of election denial have convinced them to distrust. “My argument is that each of us can become a mule,” Presler said at a voter training session in Delaware County, one of several he led in the commonwealth in February. “I don’t want 2,000 mules. I want 2 million mules.”
Presler, a former chairman of the “Gays for Trump” organization, is one of the most vocal proponents for mail-in voting in the conservative movement. He was one of the most prominent critics of ousted RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel (who also backed mail-in voting), and members of the ultraconservative group Turning Point USA have suggested his get-out-the-vote efforts should be a model for the Republican Party as a whole. Presler, for example, frequently touts his strategy for winning over Black voters (which appears to be, simply, pitting them against immigrants) despite having little success to show for it. And that underscores what’s likely to be a major problem if he’s put in charge of the RNC’s voter outreach: his track record.
Presler is known more for political stunts than substantive election victories. He’s made a habit of visiting various states to assist with highly public campaigns that, in many cases, don’t end up going in Republicans’ favor. Ahead of a crucial election in February that could have flipped Pennsylvania’s state house to Republicans, he visited and attempted to mobilize voters for a candidate who ultimately went on to lose. Philly GOPers were pretty demoralized after that loss. And in a similarly high-stakes campaign last year, Presler threw his support behind failed Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly. He’s also a staunch backer of Arizona gubernatorial election-loser Kari Lake.
Presler being given a high-profile position in the RNC would be the latest sign that Turning Point USA and its affiliates are in total control of the Trump-branded Republican Party. And while that may serve each of them quite well personally, evidence suggests it’s bound to hurt the GOP’s electoral chances come November.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.