GOP will remain neutral if Trump runs again in 2024

The head of the NEW YORK —

Republican National Committee on Wednesday declined to encourage former President Donald Trump to run for the White House in 2024, saying the GOP would stay “neutral” in its next presidential primary.

R NC Chairman Ronna McDaniel also described the pro-Trump conspiracy the- ory group known as QAnon as “dangerous.”

The national GOP, under McDaniel’s leadership, spent the past four years almost sin- gularly focused on Trump’s 2020 reelection. But should he run again in 2024 — and he has publicly and privately suggested he wants to — the national party infrastructure would not support his ambitions over other prospective candidates in accordance with party rules, she said.

“The party has to stay neutral. I’m not telling anybody to run or not to run in 2024,” McDaniel said when asked whether she wanted to see Trump run again in the next presidential election. “What I really do want to see him do, though, is help us win back majorities in 2022.”

Just months removed from the last presidential election, McDaniel is far more focused on the 2022 midterms, when Republicans have an opportunity to break the Democrats’ monopoly on Congress.

McDaniel said she’s expecting several Republican leaders to play a significant role in the party’s future, mentioning former Vice President Mike Pence and Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations. Both are considered 2024 presidential contenders.

She also downplayed reports that Trump is considering leaving the GOP and starting a new party, warning that such a move would div ide Re p ublicans a nd “guarantee Democrat wins up and down the ticket.”