Having been playing this game for some time as a PCO (off and on), let me tell you how things REALLY work in the Republican Party.

It is absolutely true: You CAN take over the "Party Leadership" in your district, county, state, even the entire nation. That's the good news.

The bad news: This has already been done.

You ever notice how the Republican Party platform for your county / state / nation sounds really, really good, and yet, we keep electing RINOs?

You want to understand why that is?

Let me explain to you why that is.

Say you have a District, and you have every single precinct with a PCO, and they're all Trump fanatics. They elect their District chair, etc... and you have successfully taken over the Republican Party in your district! Give yourselves a pat on the back, because you deserve it. Getting hundreds of people to show up and vote together is not easy work, but you managed to pull it off.

Now, it's time to file for elections. You find the best candidate you know, and you put together the best committee you can, and you raise a few thousand bucks and his name shows up in the primary, along with a few others.

One of those "few others" is a RINO. Mr. RINO McRINO-face is also running, except he has exactly 0 support in your district. But he does have massive support from:

• The state republican legislative committees ($100k because it's important RINO wins, not your favorite pede.)
• The teacher's union, because they always support the commies.
• The police union, because he's going to get them a pay raise and some other benefits.
• And you get the idea...

Along with this money comes expertise. See, no matter how hard YOU work at it, you are a novice at this election thing. The state republican legislative committee has at their fingertips pretty much anyone who has been winning as a republican in your state. And your guy isn't invited!

Now, you have a couple of choices:

• Call up all your PCO buddies and say, "Look, I'm going to need you to doorknock 1,000 doors in your precinct. If we can do that, we can win this race!" Good luck with that!
• Go outside your circle of pedes to find funding from some rebel PACs and get their services involved. Again, good luck! These guys aren't exactly running the state legislature, and they can't get kickbacks and bribes like the state republican legislative committee can.
• Pray to God.

If you're like me, you'll find out really quick that it doesn't really matter who the PCOs are. The vast majority have no effect on their precinct. And the amount of time and effort to get them capable of shifting votes in their precinct is ridiculous. This ain't the BSA. It's boring, old-fashioned politics.

What to do about this?

My recommendations:

• If you're going to sign up as a PCO, and I HIGHLY recommend you do! Then take your job seriously. Setup block captains. Get a phone / email tree. Get people plugged in to your mailing list, and get them notified. You will never get paid for this work, and it will suck up every moment of free time you thought you had. But it will pay HUGE dividends. (And if you're any good at it, you'll find people knocking on your door with wads of cash asking you to help them get elected.)
• Find the local PACs and committees and such that are actually aligned with your politics. They exist! If they are any good, volunteer to help. Rub shoulders with the people pulling the strings at these PACs. Maybe donate your money (if you are Mr. Moneybags!) Do I need to tell you to avoid the RINO ones?
• If you have the guts for it, run for office yourself. Seriously, just do it. The moment you file, 1,001 committees and PACs are going to look you up. They are going to ask themselves two questions: (1) Can this guy win? (2) Can he be bought? If the answer to the first is "Yes", then they are going to start bidding for your loyalty. They will say things like, "You should support X" and "If you are 'problematic' you can't raise money!" If you do support X, then go ahead and take the money. They will be valuable allies. If you don't, call them a bunch of commie RINOs and kick them out. But don't rely on these groups to win: Rely on your own network of pedes in yoru area.

The committees and PACs and such CAN be beaten, and you need to understand what it takes and do it yourself.

Getting elected as PCO is only the first step in this business. Good luck!