Former Republican National Committee chairman and Trump administration official Reince Priebus noted over the weekend that the GOP primary is going swimmingly for his former boss, almost as if he had “scripted” it himself.
During an appearance on ABC on Sunday, former President Donald Trump’s one-time chief of staff said that there did not appear to be anyone still left in the GOP primary race who is capable of defeating him at this point.
“We’re closing in on the Iowa Caucuses, Reince Priebus. Can anyone stop Donald Trump at this point? We saw this big endorsement for Nikki Haley this week from the Koch brothers group, Americans For Prosperity. She seems to be gaining some ground. Does she have time? Is it possible?” host George Stephanopoulos asked.
“Well, she is gaining momentum, but she’s still sitting at 30 points down in Iowa, 27 in New Hampshire, 50 points nationally,” Priebus began.
“If Donald Trump’s people could map out how this race was going to go, that, as someone is getting consolidation, Nikki Haley, then the governor of Iowa then endorsed Ron DeSantis, and then Bob Vander Plaats would endorse Ron DeSantis, and then the Koch brothers would now say, ‘We’re going to put money behind Nikki Haley,’ in a primary — keep in mind, this is a primary in a Republican Party where generally plurality wins every delegate — generally, there’s exceptions, you couldn’t script it any better,” he said.
“If Donald Trump said, ‘Here’s how I want this to go,’ you could not map this out any better, given the primary rules in the Republican Party,” Priebus continued.
Stephanopoulos then swung it over to another guest on the panel, former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile.
“Donna, it does seem like deja vu all over again?” he asked, regarding what appears to be Trump’s inevitable GOP nomination.
“Oh, it really does. But, you know, I want to say something about Mr. DeSantis. These last few weeks, I’ve been trying to — I’m trying to be generous to all the Republican candidates since Chris Christie is not, you know, capturing the crowd, let me give Mr. DeSantis some love. He has completed the full Grassley, all 99 counties. He has the endorsement of the governor. He has the endorsement of the big evangelical leader,” she said.
“So, I think he has a good advantage going into the Iowa caucuses because, as you well know, it’s all about organization on the ground. You got to get people out on a cold, wintry night to caucus for you. So I give him an advantage, especially with the governors putting (inaudible) muscle behind him,” Brazile continued.
“Nikki Haley has capitalized on all of these debates. I said good things about her last week, but this week, she is going to face a lot,” she added.
