Reince Priebus: 'People Like Me Were Wrong' About Trump
Former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus thinks his old boss — President Donald Trump — has the right idea when it comes to tweeting.
During an interview Saturday with MSNBC host and conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, Priebus noted that during Trump’s presidential campaign, he and others would often advise the controversial candidate to more carefully consider what he should and should not post to Twitter.
“I would be the guy, ‘Don’t tweet this. Do tweet that. Don’t this, don’t that.’ And others chimed in, even the first lady and the family,” Priebus said, according to the Washington Examiner.
Often, Trump didn’t listen, but still, he defeated Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton and became president. This led Priebus to concede that maybe he was wrong, and Trump was right.
“But at the end of the day, he goes through the whole campaign, he’s listening to people like me saying, ‘Don’t tweet this, don’t tweet that,’ and he tweeted it, and he won,” said Priebus, who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee during the 2016 election cycle.
“So, I’m at a place now on the whole tweeting issue that I think more or less people like me were wrong, and people like him were right,” he added.
Tweeting is far from Trump’s only strength as a communicator, Priebus said, explaining that the president also benefits from doing media interviews.
As a candidate, Trump was frequently interviewed by radio and television hosts, but in the first year of his presidency, he has made far less media appearances.
“He would also go on any show — I interviewed him 16 times,” Hewitt said, referring to the days of the campaign. “Why has he stopped that?”
Priebus was seemingly unable to provide an answer, but he did indicate that if he still worked in the White House, he would encourage Trump to make more appearances in the media.
“Personally — it’s not my business anymore — but if I were him, if I were advising him, I would say, ‘Do more media.’ Because I think he’s really good at it,” Priebus said.
Trump has been interviewed several times in the past month. During his trip to Davos, Switzerland, last month, Trump sat down to talk with CNBC‘s Joe Kernen and ITV’s Piers Morgan.
Earlier in January, Trump was interviewed by The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial board, and late last year, he spoke with a New York Times reporter for 30 minutes.
Priebus also suggested that even as president, Trump displayed a unique ability to use news conferences to put controversy “to bed.”
“One thing about the president that he could do better than anyone is take an issue on and put it to bed,” the former chief of staff said. “He did that in the West Wing.”
“When he did, everything went away for a while,” Priebus added. “And he was good at that.”
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