Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus told CNN on Wednesday that he feels no responsibility to answer for GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump.
Asked about a scathing Washington Post editorial that chastised GOP leaders, and Priebus in particular, for allowing Trump “to run a flamboyant insult of a campaign,” the RNC chair called the piece “the stupidest editorial that I’ve ever seen.”
“I’m called out for not beating up the frontrunner of the GOP,” Priebus said. “It’s ridiculous.”
The Post’s editorial board criticized Priebus leader for committing to supporting Trump if he becomes the party’s nominee despite his extreme views on immigration and foreign policy. Though the RNC chair condemned Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., he has repeatedly refrained from openly criticizing the GOP candidate, calling Trump’s campaign a “net positive” for Republicans.
The Post disagreed, painting Priebus as a pushover unable to control an increasingly volatile party.
“Mr. Priebus and everyone else ‘leading’ the GOP are Americans before they are Republicans,” the editorial board wrote. “They should act like it.”
Priebus told CNN that it was not his job to police the statements made by his party’s candidates.
“My job is to put forward the fairest process that we can put forward, to not put my hand on the scale, to allow our delegates to make the choices that they want to make and then accept the decision that the delegates make,” he said. “Unlike what’s happening on the Democrat side, when they have superdelegates in their back pockets and could give a darn what their grassroots is telling the party. That is not how we operate our party on our side.”
