Ronna McDaniel Is No Champion for Women

After spending her tenure as RNC Chair allowing the Republican Party to turn its back on women at every chance it’s had, Ronna McDaniel is now purporting to be a champion for women’s rights. In an op-ed, McDaniel writes that at the RNC, “We believe that all issues are women’s issues, which is why we fight for the policies that make it easier for women to live, work and raise families.” This is the same RNC that stands by a president accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen women, blindly supports all of the Trump administration’s attacks on women, and dismisses women who come forward about sexual abuse or harassment by Republicans.

 

Here’s how the RNC has actually treated women under McDaniel’s leadership:

 

The RNC funded Roy Moore’s Senate campaign after multiple allegations of child molestation and sexual misconduct.

 

Washington Post: RNC to support Roy Moore in Senate race in Alabama, weeks after cutting ties with his campaign: “President Trump led an aggressive charge Monday on behalf of embattled Senate nominee Roy Moore, with the Republican National Committee rejoining Moore’s side in Alabama weeks after cutting ties with him following allegations of sexual misconduct.”

 

The Hill: RNC member resigns over party’s support for Roy Moore: “Joyce Simmons, a RNC member from Nebraska, informed RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel of her resignation on Dec. 8. In a Monday statement, Simmons said she was driven to cut ties with the national party over its continued support for Moore after he was accused of romantically and sexually pursuing teenage girls.”

 

The RNC has stood by every single Trump administration policy that hurts and discriminates against women.

 

New York Times: Trump Administration Rolls Back Birth Control Mandate: “The Trump administration on Friday moved to expand the rights of employers to deny women insurance coverage for contraception and issued sweeping guidance on religious freedom that critics said could also erode civil rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.”

 

ABC: Trump administration announces new 'conscience and religious freedom' division at HHS: “Social conservatives and religious liberty leaders have anticipated conscience and religious freedom protections to come out of HHS, and the work of the new division, which will fall under the purview of the Office of Civil Rights, will likely pave the way for health care workers to refuse specific types of care, like birth control or abortion, based on their religious or conscience objections.”

 

CNN: Education Department withdraws Obama-era campus sexual assault guidance: “The Education Department announced Friday it is formally rescinding Obama-era guidance on how schools should handle sexual assaults under Title IX federal law. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced earlier this month that her department was concerned that previous guidance denied proper due process to those accused.”

 

The Hill: Trump administration rescinds Obama guidance on defunding Planned Parenthood: “The Obama administration argued Medicaid law only allowed states to bar providers from the program if those providers were unable to perform covered services or if they can't bill for those services. However, the Trump administration rescinded that guidance Friday in a letter to state Medicaid directors, arguing it was part of the Obama administration's effort to favor abortion rights.”

 

NBC News: Trump Pulls Back Obama-Era Protections For Women Workers: “On March 27, Trump revoked the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order then-President Barack Obama put in place to ensure that companies with federal contracts comply with 14 labor and civil rights laws. The Fair Pay order was put in place after a 2010 Government Accountability Office investigation showed that companies with rampant violations were being awarded millions in federal contracts. In an attempt to keep the worst violators from receiving taxpayer dollars, the Fair Pay order included two rules that impacted women workers: paycheck transparency and a ban on forced arbitration clauses for sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination claims.”

 

Washington Post: Trump still hasn’t nominated a director for the Violence Against Women office at the Justice Department: “President Trump has not nominated anyone to be the director of the Office on Violence Against Women in the Justice Department. The person in this position oversees a budget of more than $450 million and is supposed to be the administration’s leading voice on domestic and sexual violence, both nationally and internationally. By controlling the flow of grants, the director can influence programs to better protect and serve victims. Women’s advocates lobbied for years to elevate this job and require that the Senate confirm the president’s pick.”

 

Politico: White House council for women and girls goes dark under Trump: “When President George W. Bush took office, he quickly and quietly disbanded President Bill Clinton’s Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach — and now President Donald Trump appears to be doing the same thing to President Barack Obama’s White House Council on Women and Girls. The council, created by Obama in 2009 to monitor the impact of policy changes and liaise with women's groups has been defunct while the Trump administration evaluates whether to keep it, according to three senior White House officials.”

 

In a breathtaking show of hypocrisy, the RNC has refused to return a dime of the money their former finance chair Steve Wynn raised, even after numerous rape and sexual misconduct allegations spanning decades.

 

Vox: The RNC (still) isn’t giving back Steve Wynn’s donations. And their reasoning is baffling: “Still, even after Wynn left his company, the GOP isn’t looking to return his donations anytime soon. ‘He should be allowed due process,’ McDaniel said on Fox on January 30, and on Wednesday, the RNC said it hasn’t changed its mind, waiting for a ‘board investigation’ to play out.”

 

@GOPChairwoman: “If the DNC truly stands up for women like they say they do, then returning Weinstein's dirty money should be a no-brainer.”

 

The RNC has refused to condemn a growing brigade of Republican elected officials accused of sexual misconduct, including Patrick Meehan, Blake Farenthold, Trent Franks, Tim Murphy, and Eric Greitens.

 

CNN: McDaniel on whether the RNC stood behind Meehan: “We’ll let the voters make decisions as to who’s best to represent them.” “CAMEROTA: Does the RNC stand behind Congressman Meehan? MCDANIEL: There’s an investigation going on there as well. We’ll get to the bottom of that. I mean, I need to see more details on that. He’s been removed. And Paul Ryan’s handling that. […] We’ll let the voters make decisions as to who’s best to represent them.”

 

New York Daily News: Farenthold still hasn’t paid back $84,000 he spent in taxpayer money to settle sexual harassment claim: “Disgraced Rep. Blake Farenthold still hasn’t paid back the $84,000 he used in taxpayer funds to settle sexual harassment claims brought by a former employee, after he promised last year to give taxpayers back their money. Farenthold told NBC-affiliate KRIS-TV that he would pay back the settlement money even though he ‘didn’t do anything wrong.’”

 

New York Times: Gov. Eric Greitens of Missouri Indicted on Invasion of Privacy Charge: “Gov. Eric Greitens of Missouri was indicted on Thursday on a felony invasion of privacy charge, threatening his hold on the leadership of the state and creating chaos across Missouri’s political landscape in an election year. The St. Louis grand jury’s indictment accused Mr. Greitens, a first-term Republican who was seen as having ambitions for higher office, of photographing a nude or partially nude person without the person’s knowledge or consent in 2015. The indictment said Mr. Greitens then transmitted the photo in a way that allowed it to be viewed on a computer, which prosecutors said made the crime a felony rather than a misdemeanor.”

 

New York Times: Trent Franks, Accused of Offering $5 Million to Aide for Surrogacy, Resigns: “A House leadership aide confirmed that two aides in Mr. Franks’s office believed the congressman was suggesting that he impregnate them sexually. Andrea Lafferty, the executive director of the Traditional Values Coalition, said that one of the women approached by Mr. Franks told her about the encounter last year, and said that Mr. Franks entreated her repeatedly to be a surrogate mother, at one point offering $5 million.”

 

Philly Inquirer: Pat Meehan's sexual harassment settlement: nearly $40,000: “The aide who accused Rep. Pat Meehan of sexual harassment last year received nearly $40,000 in a taxpayer-funded settlement to resolve the claim, according to three sources familiar with the case.”

 

The RNC defended the White House’s reaction to Rob Porter’s alleged domestic abuse and cast doubt on the veracity of the allegations.

 

RNC Spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany: “It’s important to remind everyone that these men do deny the allegations.”: “The executive branch, of course, hires thousands of employees. So it is inevitable that sometimes you will have someone get through who might not be a good actor. And again, it's important to remind everyone that these men do deny the allegations.”