identity politics
Trump reportedly asked RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to drop 'Romney' from her name. She did.
Before she started leading the GOP, Ronna McDaniel proudly carried a "Romney" in her name.
The Republican National Committee chairwoman and niece of Senator-elect Mitt Romney spent years using her maiden name in her social media accounts and professional biographies, going by Ronna Romney McDaniel. But she dropped the "Romney" last year during her uncle's Senate run — at President Trump's request, The Washington Post reports.
A former presidential candidate himself, Romney heavily criticized Trump's 2016 run and attacked him again in an op-ed published Tuesday. Trump returned the blow in a Wednesday tweet, and McDaniel definitively sided with Trump in a scorching tweet of her own. The family spat promptly brought up some reminiscing about when McDaniel went by a slightly longer name.
The Romney drop came just after McDaniel replaced Reince Priebus as RNC chair in early 2017, and it wasn't just because "Ronna Romney" is a bit of a tongue twister. Trump asked McDaniel to drop her maiden name after subtly opposing his Senate run, the Post reports. And if McDaniel's Twitter feed and the official RNC website are any indication, Trump's request worked.