Reince Priebus Calls on G.O.P. to Back Nominee, Even if It’s You-Know-Who
Photo
Reince Priebus after his remarks at the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting in Hollywood, Fla., on Friday.Credit
Joe Skipper/Reuters
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The head of the Republican National Committee
implored leaders of his sharply divided party on Friday to rally behind
their eventual presidential nominee, suggesting that they ignore Donald J. Trump’s assault on the nominating process.
Reince
Priebus, the committee’s chairman, did not mention Mr. Trump by name
when addressing the group’s members at the party’s spring meeting here,
but he devoted much of his speech to the tensions created by the
Republican front-runner.
“Now
I know our candidates are going to say some things to attract
attention,” Mr. Priebus said, in a barely veiled reference to Mr.
Trump’s attacks on what he has called “a rigged” and “corrupt”
nominating process.
“That’s part of politics,” Mr. Priebus said. “But we all need to get behind the nominee.”
Mr.
Trump is not the nominee yet, but his considerable advantage in
delegates and lead in overall votes has prompted some mainstream
Republicans to come to terms with the likelihood that he is the
favorite, however unthinkable it may once have been, to become their
standard-bearer this fall.
Yet
the lingering split between those Republicans willing to accept Mr.
Trump, however reluctantly, and those ferociously opposed to his
nomination was on vivid display at the beachside resort where the party
gathered.
While
Mr. Priebus was speaking to state chairmen and chairwomen and committee
members in a second-floor ballroom, officials from the best-funded
anti-Trump group were briefing reporters a floor below about its efforts
to deny Mr. Trump delegates in the remaining contests and keep him from
clinching a majority before the party’s convention in Cleveland in
July.
More
to the point, Katie Packer, the chairwoman of the group, Our Principles
PAC, rejected Mr. Priebus’s implicit suggestion that Mr. Trump was
worthy of carrying the party’s banner.
“We’re
selling our soul as a party for what?” asked Ms. Packer, arguing that
nominating Mr. Trump could imperil Republican control of Congress. “To
lose our majorities for a generation?”
Ms. Packer added, “I think it’s very clear he doesn’t live up to our standards as a party.”
To
drive that point home, she came to the meeting with reporters
brandishing the group’s latest mailing: a pamphlet featuring an image of
a buxom blonde, a pug and a pig that read: “Bimbo. Dog. Fat Pig. This
is how Donald Trump publicly refers to women.”
Whether
the shock value of such language still has any resonance this deep into
the nominating fight is an open question, however. Mr. Trump’s
commanding victory in New York this week and his expected successes in a
series of mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states this Tuesday has put a
damper on the effort to stop him.
It
has also stoked concern among some that, if Mr. Trump falls just short
of a delegate majority but comes close, the small universe of unbound
delegates, wanting to end the party’s long and ugly nomination fight,
will come his way to hand him the nomination on the first ballot.
Some
of these political free agents were at the party meeting, and Our
Principles PAC distributed a three-and-a-half page memo to them and the
rest of the committee members, who are all delegates, making the case
against Mr. Trump and arguing that it was not too late to stop him.
“We
believe they’ll follow their heart before they follow the herd and the
pressure,” Ms. Packer said, adding that Mr. Priebus should not “make the
decision, ‘Well, he got close, so we’re going to go ahead and give him
the touchdown.’ ”
But
the party chairman, while pleading with Republicans to “rally around
whoever becomes our nominee,” made clear in his remarks that the R.N.C.
would be steadfast in not getting behind a candidate until they receive
the needed 1,237 delegates.
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“We
aren’t going to hand the nomination to anyone with a plurality, no
matter how close they are to 1,237,” Mr. Priebus said. “You need a
majority. ‘Almost’ only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”
Trying
to put the best face on a campaign that some Republicans say has been
disastrous for the party, Mr. Priebus invoked Abraham Lincoln to note
that Lincoln’s intraparty opponents in the election of 1860 joined his
administration. “They didn’t just take their marbles and go home,” he
said.
But
while some of Mr. Trump’s rivals for the nomination may endorse him,
with varying degrees of enthusiasm, should he become the nominee, many
in the party most likely will not.
Many
of the party’s strategists and staff members, as well as some its
elected officials, have said publicly that they will not support Mr.
Trump if he wins the nomination. And it was difficult to stroll through
the lobby here without encountering Republicans who said privately that
they were unlikely to vote for the candidate most likely to be their
nominee.
Some,
but not all, of these feelings could subside should Republicans be
faced with a choice between Mr. Trump and Hillary Clinton, the
Democratic front-runner.
But
for now many of the committee members to whom Mr. Priebus was preaching
unity remain uneasy with a candidate who is waging war against the
party and its nominating process.
“The
proof will be in the pudding in the next couple of weeks,” said Matt
Moore, the South Carolina Republican chairman, after meeting with Mr.
Trump’s top campaign officials, who offered assurances that the
candidate is not running against the R.N.C.
“Thus far, Trump is attacking the party and Reince often,” Mr. Moore said, “and I’d like to see that significantly decrease.”
“We’re selling our soul as a party for what?” asked Ms. Packer, arguing that nominating Mr. Trump could imperil Republican control of Congress. “To lose our majorities for a generation?”Ms. Packer added, “I think it’s very clear he doesn’t live up to our standards as a party.”To drive that point home, she came to the meeting with reporters brandishing the group’s latest mailing: a pamphlet featuring an image of a buxom blonde, a pug and a pig that read: “Bimbo. Dog. Fat Pig. This is how Donald Trump publicly refers to women.”Whether the shock value of such language still has any resonance this deep into the nominating fight is an open question, however. Mr. Trump’s commanding victory in New York this week and his expected successes in a series of mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states this Tuesday has put a damper on the effort to stop him.It has also stoked concern among some that, if Mr. Trump falls just short of a delegate majority but comes close, the small universe of unbound delegates, wanting to end the party’s long and ugly nomination fight, will come his way to hand him the nomination on the first ballot.Some of these political free agents were at the party meeting, and Our Principles PAC distributed a three-and-a-half page memo to them and the rest of the committee members, who are all delegates, making the case against Mr. Trump and arguing that it was not too late to stop him.“We believe they’ll follow their heart before they follow the herd and the pressure,” Ms. Packer said, adding that Mr. Priebus should not “make the decision, ‘Well, he got close, so we’re going to go ahead and give him the touchdown.’ ”But the party chairman, while pleading with Republicans to “rally around whoever becomes our nominee,” made clear in his remarks that the R.N.C. would be steadfast in not getting behind a candidate until they receive the needed 1,237 delegates.
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