Reince Priebus on Donald Trump's taco bowl tweet: "He's trying"
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus had this to say about Donald Trump's Cinco de Mayo attempt at Hispanic outreach: "He's trying."
"He's trying. Honestly, he's trying," Priebus told the crowd at a Politico Playbook Breakfast event in DC, to laughs from the audience.
Asked about his initial reaction to Trump's tweet -- which featured the candidate posing with a Trump Grill taco bowl and saying "I love Hispanics!"-- Priebus punted, saying he "had other pressing matters that I was dealing with" when the tweet posted.
Priebus said it's true that there are two Trumps, and that the man he's dealt with throughout the course of the primary election period looks very different than the one firing up campaign rallies with blustery speeches. He suggested Trump's graciousness Tuesday evening after he won Indiana, is the Trump he's come to know.
"[H]e's said it himself, that there's going to be a time to shift to general election mode," Priebus said. "...The person you saw on Tuesday night was the person I got used to dealing with on the telephone and in person."
As for reports that the RNC has asked staff to leave if they are not supportive of Trump as the nominee, Priebus categorically denied the story.
"That is 100 percent false," he said. To his knowledge, he noted, the only discussion that had happened with staff was about logistics and vacation now that the party is entering general-election mode.
He said he's spoken with House Speaker Paul Ryan in the wake of Ryan's Thursday announcement that he's "not ready" to support Trump as the GOP nominee, and that he believes Ryan is "being honest" in his hesitation.
"I don't think too many people thought that Tuesday and Wednesday would be the end of Ted Cruz and John Kasich," he said. "And so for some people, and I would say in Paul Ryan's case, he thought he would have 30 more days."