Newly elected Chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) Michael Whatley accidentally said America is better off now than under former President Trump during a Fox News appearance Friday.
Whatley attempted to argue that the country is worse off under President Biden’s leadership than it was four years ago with Trump in office, and that the country would improve if the former president were reelected, but he mixed up his words on air.
“At the end of the day, this comes down to a very simple contrast between President Trump and President Biden,” Whatley said. “Were you better off four years ago than you are today? The answer for this entire country is ‘no.’ I mean, ‘yes.’”
“We are better off today, or, we will be better off under President Trump than we will under President Biden,” he stumbled.
Whatley took over the leadership position last week. Since then, he has instigated a major reset for the party.
More than 60 people have been fired in recent days, including senior staff. Trump clinched the party’s nomination for the general election, and the layoffs signal that change is coming to the party as it gears up to take on President Biden in the fall.
Whatley justified the layoffs as the party “realigning the committee to make sure that we are focused on coming out of the primary.”
“We now have a presumptive nominee and it is absolutely essential for us to make sure that our programs and our campaign efforts are aligned with the president’s,” he said.
A major question moving forward is if the RNC will fund Trump’s spiraling legal bills; the former president has been ordered to pay more than $500 million in fines. He faces 91 felony charges across four indictments.
Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, was elected co-chair of the RNC alongside Whatley. In the past, she said she would spend “every single penny” of the RNC’s funds to help her father-in-law win reelection.