MAGA-merger

RNC, Trump campaign become one

Republican National Committee staffers have been told in no uncertain terms that “there is no functional difference” between the GOP institution and former President Donald Trump’s White House campaign, sources from both sides tell The Post.

The merger between the RNC and the Trump effort has been underway all this week after Michael Whatley and Lara Trump officially assumed their respective chair and co-chair positions on Monday.

The new leadership was backed by the former president, 77, and voted in unanimously last week, and dozens of staffers were subsequently informed they would have to reapply for their positions or face definite termination on March 31.

By Thursday morning, there were already visible changes inside the RNC’s DC headquarters, with some higher-ups already gone and an influx of Trump campaign staffers making introductions.

“We don’t really have a boss right now. Work continues on autopilot, just doing what we did before,” one RNC staffer told The Post.

“We report to the Trump campaign, but the specific person hasn’t been identified and the process for approving projects has not been laid out,” the person added.

‘Joined forces’

Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser in the RNC communications shop who came over from the Trump campaign, confirmed to The Post that the two sides “had joined forces, but as much as it’s allowed by law.”

“We wanted to streamline everything. We wanted to make sure there were no operational redundancies,” she said. “We’re making sure that all of our resources are out in the field and making sure that we are in one battle with them.”

“It’s not unprecedented. It’s happened in the past,” Alvarez went on. “It probably more closely mirrors what 2016 looked like than 2020. Because in 2020 there was a lot of duplication within each organization.”

Among the the new RNC brass are COO Sean Cairncross, an ex-Trump White House senior adviser, and chief of staff Chris LaCivita, also a top campaign adviser to the 45th president.

Jason Roe, a Republican strategist and former executive director of the Michigan GOP, said that the personnel involved give him “confidence” that the RNC will be on the right path, despite the initial shock.

“What is novel is that they are pretty much eliminating the separation of the two. I do think it will be more streamlined,” Roe said, noting that some staffers, like LaCivita, will be working with the RNC while on the campaign trail.

Roe argued the Trump-RNC takeover has no material effect on the election odds.

“For most voters, this campaign stuff is insider stuff that they don’t understand or care about,” he said.