The “autopsy” is finished. And they want to bury the results:
Republican Party officials plan to keep private an internal “autopsy” report assessing why many of their candidates fell short in the 2022 midterm elections, two people familiar with the party’s thinking on the matter told NBC News on Friday.
In late November, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announced that the party would conduct a post-election review of the GOP’s disappointing performance in a cycle that should have favored Republicans.
A panel created by the Republican National Committee has completed a draft of the introduction of the report, but in a break from past practice, it’s not likely to be widely available.
“I believe that the post-election analysis is meant to be for internal use only; taking the lessons we’ve learned so we can improve,” one RNC member said. “I don’t think it will be made publicly available.”
After the 2012 presidential election, the RNC commissioned a frank review of the party’s shortcomings at the ballot box and publicly released recommendations for the future. The resulting 100-page report, titled the “Growth & Opportunity Project,” provided an unsparing look at the party’s struggle to win over voters and communicate a winning message.
Many of the suggestions were brushed aside by the party’s next standard-bearer, Donald Trump, who went on to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. After his defeat in 2020, Trump played an outsize role in the midterms elections two years later, vetting Republican candidates and endorsing those who championed his agenda.
Yet the draft introduction of the report doesn’t mention his name, nor that of any candidates, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Of course it doesn’t. He is Dear Leader. I doubt this report is meaningful in any case. They are not in a place to be honest about what they’ve done to themselves.
The party is at war with itself so I expect this will leak before long. I wouldn’t expect much.