Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus pushed back Sunday against Donald Trump’s threatening talk of a “rough July” if the party tries to deny the GOP frontrunner its presidential nomination.
“There’s no room for threatening the delegates or the convention or anybody that would be going to our national convention,” Priebus said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Priebus also suggested Trump is mostly talk. The RNC boss said the party does not even write the rules for the nominating convention, let alone rig them.
“Some of this is hyperbole,” Priebus said. “And the truth is is that the delegates themselves are the ones that write the rules for the convention. The RNC doesn’t write any rules. The RNC has basically an administrative role at the convention. It’s by majority rule the delegates can run the convention. So it’s on them to decide what they want to do about a lot of these issues, not us.”
Priebus took issue that Trump’s complaints that as the winner of the most primary votes, he should have the nomination wrapped up.
“If he was winning the majority of the votes, he’d have a majority of the delegates. But that is not actually what’s happening,” Priebus said, noting that Trump has won only a plurality of votes.
The RNC chairman made the Sunday show rounds to respond to Trump. Priebus said he has done more television “in the last two weeks than I have in the last two years,” because he is eager to clarify the committee’s role in the nominating process.
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Priebus said presidential candidates should “understand that the majority of delegates is the goal, and you need to play within the confines of the rules to make sure that you get there.”
The RNC chairman also appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He said there that he does not take Trump’s attacks personally.
“I kind of just rest in the truth,” Priebus said. “And, you know, it matters when something is right and something is wrong to me.”
