It’s still kind of shocking that Michael Steele was head of the RNC. He was there when it went completely bat-shit insane (more than it already was, that is)… He was eyewitness to it. 2009 through 2011, he got to watch his political party become the “Tea Party” and embrace bonkers conspiracy theories like birtherism in real time.

I wonder what that was like for him? Near as I can tell, he was a genuine Republican true believer, then got a ring-side seat to the utter collapse of anything even resembling a political party, to be replaced by the foundations of today’s rabid “Republican” cult.

To be fair, the RNC normally just talks to a couple rich assholes and a bunch of preachers and sits back while tv, radio and church does a bunch of fear mongering on their behalf. They might not have a great take on real grassroots numbers needed.

Here’s some context Turing point USA, the maga junk org that has been fully integrated into the RNC in was a key advisor to trump about how to structure the RNC, hired "hundreds" of people to get out the vote while trying to raise 108mil for their efforts:

Kolvet pushed back on criticism of the group’s 2022 results, noting that TP Action only spent $500,000 in total in several states in 2022, but that this year it intends to mount a much better-financed and robust effort, hiring hundreds of full-time employees for its “chase the vote” drive and seeking to raise an eye-popping $108m dollars.

TPUSA now employs 450 people and has broadened its focus from fighting left and “woke” influence on campuses to other culture war fronts by setting up a Turning Point Faith unit that’s hosted large gatherings at churches featuring Wallnau and other Christian nationalist figures.

Full time employees will put in a lot more hours than volunteers, but we are talking hundreds versus hundreds of thousands.

The RNC has its own volunteers as well, but you can see the contrast of efforts that spun up very, very fast.