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Political families are a time-honored American tradition. Start with the Adamses, then fast forward to the Roosevelts, Kennedys, and Bushes. But today, none are more relevant 鈥� or conflicted 鈥� than the Romneys.听

In one corner is Ronna (Romney) McDaniel, chair of the Republican National Committee, and in the other, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, her uncle. Both are Republicans, but they do not see eye-to-eye on the most consequential political question of the day, the presidency of Donald Trump and the impeachment inquiry into his dealings with Ukraine.听

When asked if she鈥檚 tried to broker a truce in the Trump-Romney war of words, Ms. McDaniel essentially said no.听

鈥淚鈥檝e said these are two grown men, very capable,鈥� the RNC chair told reporters Thursday at a Monitor Breakfast. 鈥淭hey can work out their differences.鈥�

Senator Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee for president, has said Mr. Trump鈥檚 for China and Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son was 鈥渨rong and appalling.鈥� Mr. Trump returned fired, calling Mr. Romney 鈥渁 pompous [expletive].鈥澨�

At the breakfast, Ms. McDaniel took the conflict in stride, noting that many families are divided over Mr. Trump.听

鈥淚 feel for Kellyanne sometimes 鈥� the family stuff鈥檚 tough,鈥� Ms. McDaniel said. She was referring to senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, whose husband, George Conway, is a 鈥渘ever Trump鈥� Republican with a big Twitter following.听

With Mr. Trump heading toward likely impeachment, and then a trial in the Senate, Mr. Romney may soon be sitting in judgment of the president. As of now, few Senate Republicans are expected to go against Mr. Trump, but all eyes are on the Utah senator to see how aggressive he gets.听

According to Ms. McDaniel, Mr. Trump understands her dilemma. 鈥淭here have been times where the president has said, 鈥業鈥檓 sorry you have to deal with this,鈥欌�� she says.听

After that one 鈥渙ut there鈥� Trump-Romney exchange, Ms. McDaniel says, the president called her at 10:30 at night, and asked her how she was doing. 鈥淎nd then the next day, there was a tweet, 鈥楻onna McDaniel鈥檚 the best chair of the RNC we鈥檝e ever had,鈥� she says, laughing.听

Is it safe to say that she and her uncle won鈥檛 be seeing each other at Thanksgiving? Ms. McDaniel, who lives in Michigan, says she and Uncle Mitt have never spent the holiday together 鈥� but not for a bad reason. They鈥檙e with their respective, large families.

And, Ms. McDaniel makes clear, political differences are part of being a Romney. She says she used to have disagreements with her grandfather, the late Michigan Gov. George Romney, who 鈥渉ad very strong opinions鈥� that would play out at family gatherings.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 not as upsetting probably for us as maybe it is for people outside of us to have a disagreement and still be family,鈥� Ms. McDaniel says.

Following are other highlights from the Monitor Breakfast with Ms. McDaniel, lightly edited:听

On the impact of the House impeachment inquiry on RNC fundraising:听

鈥淲ithin the first, I think, 24 hours of the impeachment [inquiry] being announced, we raised $5 million online. And the first day of the impeachment hearings, we raised $3 million online. So there is an absolute influx of small dollar donations鈥� The investment has been as strong as ever, which shows that this is partisan. 鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e had a huge fundraising advantage over the DNC this year. And you also have a Democrat field aggressively fighting to win a nomination, sucking those resources into their presidential campaigns, which gives us a distinct advantage to be on the ground early right now.鈥�

On takeaways from the Democratic presidential primary debate the night before:听

鈥淚 was surprised that more of them didn鈥檛 go after [Pete] Buttigieg, with him surging in the polls. They do seem to be very gloves off on him right now.鈥澨�

鈥淭he field has still continued, in my opinion, to lurch further left. You saw Elizabeth Warren promoting a wealth tax. That would be incredibly catastrophic for our country. How are you going to assess people鈥檚 wealth every year? Are you going to create a new organization? I don鈥檛 think she鈥檚 really fleshed that out.鈥澨�

鈥淚 thought Joe Biden struggled with some questions, continually to fumble, and that some of his answers were troublesome 鈥� in the delivery. He really struggles to finish a response.鈥�

鈥淚 imagine him next to the president if he ends up being the nominee. And I just think the president is going to come at him.鈥�

On the challenge of electing more Republican women to office:听

鈥淲e鈥檙e half the electorate. We don鈥檛 all think alike. And it鈥檚 not all the same reasons, but some of the obstacles I ran into [as Michigan GOP chair] with women candidates as I was recruiting them is family-life balance, fundraising.鈥澨�

鈥淎s Michigan chair, fundraising was a challenge for me. Coming from being a stay-at-home mom, not being in the business community, not being on the golf course, to suddenly going into boardrooms and asking for significant amounts of money and oftentimes having the door shut in my face because I wasn鈥檛 part of that community.鈥�

鈥淸But] I still had the passion and the ability to do what I needed to do.鈥�