RNC chairwoman: Republicans should realize distancing themselves from Trump ‘is hurting themselves in the long run’

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Sunday that GOP senators should realize that distancing themselves from President Trump in their campaigns “is hurting themselves in the long run.”

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked McDaniel whether she is starting to see GOP senators “running on a separate track from President Trump.”

{mosads}“I’m not,” McDaniel responded. “I think all of them have been running those similar races all along.”

The RNC chairwoman noted the levels of enthusiasm for Trump’s campaign, saying it’s more than he received in 2016.

“We are seeing this huge energy, and we are seeing really great numbers coming out for the president, and this is a race,” she said. “And any Republican that doesn’t recognize that running with the president is going to help them is hurting themselves in the long run.”

.@GStephanopoulos: “As RNC chair, are you concerned that the president is in kind of open warfare with this own senators?”

McDaniel: “I think this president is fighting for the American people every day. I’m not worried about Washington beltway politics.” https://t.co/P6iz1jjwYE pic.twitter.com/rre0qdqVPe

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 18, 2020

Stephanopoulos also asked if McDaniel was “at all concerned that the president’s in kind of open warfare with his own senators?”

 “I think this president is fighting for the American people every day. I’m not worried about Washington beltway politics,” she answered.

The GOP leader’s remarks come as more Republicans are seeking to distance themselves from Trump as he struggles in national and some swing state polls, 16 days ahead of the election.

In leaked audio to The Washington Examiner, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) accused Trump of using the presidency for profiteering, appearing close to white supremacists and fumbling the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

“He refused to treat it seriously. For months, he treated it like a news-cycle-by-news-cycle P.R. crisis,” Sasse said on a conference call with 17,000 constituents. “I’m now looking at the possibility of a Republican bloodbath in the Senate, and that’s why I’ve never been on the Trump train.”