Ron DeSantis appears to have called the RNC's bluff.

At the end of October, a letter was sent to all the 2024 Republican presidential candidates threatening that if they attended a coming forum in Iowa, they would be disqualified from future debates. This was related to a pledge the candidates signed in order to participate in the RNC-sanctioned debates.

“It has come to the attention of the RNC Counsel’s Office that several Republican presidential candidates have been invited to participate in an open-press event in Iowa in November at which they would ‘gather around the table to have a moderated, friendly, and open discussion about the issues.’ In other words, a debate,” the RNC counsel’s office said in a letter obtained by CNN.  

“Accordingly, please be advised that any Republican presidential candidate who participates in this or other similar events will be deemed to have violated this pledge and will be disqualified from taking part in any future RNC-sanctioned presidential primary debates,” the office said.  

In response, DeSantis pledged to show up for the Family Leader Thanksgiving Forum anyway, essentially daring Ronna McDaniel and the RNC to enforce their redline. Rather quietly, though, the situation has been rectified, and now, all candidates who chose to can attend.

The RNC and I have agreed on the format of @TheFamilyLeader November 17 Thanksgiving FAMiLY Forum. The Forum is NOT a debate. Thus, the RNC is giving a thumbs up for candidates to participate. Thanks to the RNC for facilitating a win/win for the process. #ChooseWell2024

— Bob Vander Plaats (@bobvanderplaats) November 11, 2023

The forum was never meant to be a debate, which means the format probably didn't change much, if at all. The RNC gets to save face, though, by putting out the assumption that some game-changing tweak was made that suddenly made the forum acceptable.

I'm skeptical. I think the RNC simply got out over its skis in trying to so tightly control all interactions between candidates. The original intent of that was to force them to show up for the sanctioned debates, but that gambit obviously failed the moment Donald Trump decided to skip them. So why keep on with this charade of punishing those who did decide to sign the pledge in good faith? 

I think McDaniel and the RNC want to keep an air of authority present over the field that doesn't really exist. That's not even a criticism as much as it is an acknowledgment of reality. You currently have Vivek Ramaswamy calling for McDaniel to resign. Clearly, candidates are dancing to their own tune and will continue to do so. DeSantis expressed his willingness to push the issue, and the RNC quickly found a way to make things work. 

The lesson here should probably be for the RNC to back off a bit. There's nothing to be gained by going to war with your own candidates, and it's certainly not a tactic that is going to endear the embattled organization to Republican votes.