Reince Priebus: ‘Our Candidates Should Pledge Not to Run as a Third Party Candidate’

‘If Hillary Clinton is going to get beat, she is going to get beat by a Republican’

GUTHRIE: “Let’s turn now to Reince Priebus, he is the chairman of the Republican National Committee, and he joins us exclusively. Mr. Chairman, good morning to you.”

PRIEBUS: “Good morning, Savannah.”

GUTHRIE: “To briefly recap, and I won't go into everything, since Trump launched his run he has insulted the Mexican people, he has questioned the war-hero status of John McCain, he’s called his opponents everything from ‘stupid,’ ‘dummy,’ ‘idiot.’ He gave out the cell phone number of one of his rivals. Why do you think Republicans are responding to him? He is zooming ahead in every single poll.”

PRIEBUS: “First of all, I think you recognize this is very early. But I also think that he's speaking out to people that are really frustrated with Washington, frustrated, I think, in many cases with both parties. And so, I think there is an element of that – in fact I think there is an element of that in both parties. I think you s Bernie Sanders at 35 percent on the democrat side and quite frankly, you know, with 16 candidates and 16 choices, I think that you're going to see a lot of different people surge and move ahead and move behind. I think even Donald Trump recognized that. It’s going to be a long process. I think we’ve got a varsity squad out on the field. What I’m excited about is the fact that a lot of our candidates are already beating Hillary Clinton in the important states. That’s important, Savannah, because Hillary Clinton is at 100 percent name ID and our candidates are already beating her.”

GUTHRIE: “I want to get to Hillary Clinton in a moment, but let me stay on Trump for just one second. I mean, do you worry that there might be long-term damage to the Republican Party brand? I mean, he's got an unfavorability rate among general election voters anywhere between 57-59 percent, depending on the polling you look at. So if people, general election voters, think Republican Party equals Trump, is that bad news for you?”

PRIEBUS: “I actually don’t think that people think that. I think that all these candidates speak for themselves. It is a long process. It going to be 15, 16 more months until November. I don't see that, Savannah, I think people understand that everyone speaks for themselves. I’m not worried about that. But I do agree that tone matters and how you speak matters. I do agree that tone matters, and how you speak matters. It’s kind of like what our moms all told us, sometimes, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. And that’s – I think it’s very clear and I think most people understand that.”

GUTHRIE: “Last thing on this. Do you fear an independent run from Donald Trump? Most political analysts say if Trump ran an independent campaign it would peel off enough Republican votes to all but assure a Hillary Clinton victory. Do you have to tiptoe around him to make sure that doesn't happen?”

PRIEBUS: “No, I don’t think so. But I think every candidate -- My job is not to call balls and strikes, but to treat everyone respectfully and fairly. But certainly I think our candidates should pledge not to run as a third party candidate. I don’t see that happening. I think everyone understands that, if Hillary Clinton’s going to get beat, she’s going to get beat by a Republican. And most people that run for president run to win. And if our candidates want to win, then they’ll have to run as a Republican. But, I don’t fear that. I think you’ve even seen Donald Trump walk that back over the last few days as well.”

GUTHRIE: “And with all of the candidates vying, because of course they do want to be on that main debate stage, does that mean Hillary Clinton’s kind of getting a free pass this summer? She can go about her business because the Republicans are all having to battle to get onto that stage?”

PRIEBUS: “Yeah, you know what? That's not bad to have a battle instead of a coronation like Hillary Clinton. ... And I think the interest on our side just gives us a leg up. And as I said earlier, you're seeing it now. People across the country know that one of the biggest problems Hillary Clinton has with Americans is trustworthiness. And it's why our candidates with a lower name ID are already beating Hillary Clinton in important states across America…”

 

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