Reince Priebus On Trump Taco Tweet: ‘Honestly, He’s Trying’


RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has one job — get Republicans elected to office, even Donald Trump. In line with those duties, he gave a lukewarm praise for the real estate mogul’s Cinco De Mayo Tweet.

“He’s trying. Honestly, he’s trying.”

That’s what Priebus told Mike Allen at the Politico Playbook Breakfast event in D.C. The audience laughed.

Donald Trump has made many enemies in his brief political career, but the first conflict came when the real estate mogul said the people coming over the border from Mexico were rapists (not all, specifying that some were, he assumed, good people).

The quote led to a furious response from the Hispanic community, and now eight out of 10 Hispanics have a negative view of Trump, according to ABC News.

But that animosity wasn’t enough to keep him from the nomination.

Now, it’s time to unify the party, and Reince Priebus says Trump understands that.

“I honestly think he understands that building and unifying and growing the party is the only way we’re going to win. I think he gets that.”

Not everyone is so convinced. House Speaker Paul Ryan recently said he’s not ready to endorse Trump. The real estate mogul was surprised by Ryan’s response and says he will meet with him soon. According to the Washington Post, Trump claims that he’s brought many Republicans into the fold through the primaries and is building support, even without the speaker.

Reince Priebus commented on the snub as well, with an equally enthusiastic phrasing.

“I think he’s going to get there. By the way, he wants to get there. It’s just that he wants some time to work through it.”

Priebus explained that the sudden shock of both John Kasich and Ted Cruz dropping out of the race was a bit much for the speaker.

While the GOP leadership reels from what looks like the seven emotional stages of grief (Ryan is still in the first stage — shock; while Reince Priebus has made it all the way to acceptance), Hillary Clinton has gone into attack mode with an ad featuring the biggest names in the GOP calling Trump everything from a “bully” to a “phony,” according to People.

The ad illustrates why Reince Priebus and Trump need to unify the party to prevent more Republicans-attacking-Republicans blowback.

Still, the race is hardly set for a landslide. Hillary Clinton is just 6.3 percent ahead of Trump according to Real Clear Politics aggregated polls, with one report from Rasmussen saying the real estate mogul is two points ahead. Those polls have changed a lot of the course of the campaign.

At the beginning of December last year, Clinton was just 0.6 percent ahead, but she enjoyed double digit leads in February. The former secretary of State is now facing a possible deposition for the email scandal according to CNN, and pressure to take on a progressive agenda from the Bernie Sanders camp.

 Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, talking with Donald Trump. [Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, talking with Donald Trump. [Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]
Reince Priebus says that there are really two Trumps, and the one giving the blustery speeches was not the one he’s formed a working relationship with. Even when discussing Ryan, the RNC Chair insists the presumptive nominee had a calmer than expected tone.

“It wasn’t like furious or anything; it was just like, ‘What do I need to do?’ And so I said, ‘Listen — my view is just relax and be gracious, and I will talk to Paul and we will try to work on this.'”

Donald Trump said he is going to release a short list of his picks for the Supreme Court. Reince Priebus says that list will also help bring the party leaders to the presumptive nominee’s side.

[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]

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