The Republican National Committee affiliate program was initially set with automatic approval of affiliates, which is contrary to the accepted best practices in affiliate marketing.
In general, it is suggested to manaully approve all affiliates, so as to limit the risk to your brand and minimize the chance of fraud (though you’d have to be a nut to commit credit card fraud against the RNC).
Anyhow, the folks operating the affiliate program have flipped the switch to manual approval – smart move!