Former Republican Party executive Reince Priebus said President Trump is doing exactly what he promised by disrupting the federal government and trade relations, saying the president has a tendency to touch “the fire” then go “back to the drawing board and getting things lined up.”
During a Sunday panel discussion on ABC’s “This Week,” Priebus, who served as chief of staff in the first Trump administration but was fired in July 2017, said Trump is doing “every single thing he said he was going to do.”
“To think that Donald Trump was not going to disrupt the federal government, disrupt our trade relationships by implementing tariffs — he promised it,” the former Republican National Committee chair added.
Priebus, an open Trump critic, said he didn’t want criticize him yet because Trump has a way of “touching the fire.”
“I just wouldn’t judge too early here because I think Donald Trump does have a way of touching the fire and then going back to the drawing board and getting things lined up, and I think that’s what he’s doing,” he said.
Priebus highlighted that Trump’s election win shows that it “actually matters who you run against,” adding that the picture of former Vice President Kamala Harris in the show’s graphics was an important element of the discussion.
“[Americans] have a choice to make. And they saw the choice. They saw common layers. They said, ‘We don’t want to go that direction anymore in this country,’” Priebus said.
Priebus noted that Trump’s agenda was like “the biggest middle finger” to the country, a reference to his comments in November shortly after Trump was elected, when the president nominated former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attorney general.
“He feels like he has gone to hell and back 10 times,” he said at the time. “So, this is also a big middle finger to the DOJ and the FBI.”
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