Author: Trump Considered Dropping Out After 'Access Hollywood' Tape
Philadelphia (CBS) - Doug Wead, author of the new book, Game of Thorns: The Inside Story of Hillary Clinton's Failed Campaign and Donald Trump's Winning Strategy, revealed that Donald Trump considered dropping out of the race for the White House after the release of a video where he bragged about inappropriately touching women during a taping for 'Access Hollywood.'
Wead told Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that it was Reince Priebus, who now serves as the White House Chief of Staff, that convinced him not to give up.
"After 'Access Hollywood,' where he briefly considered passing the torch to Pence and, at that point, his family and Reince Priebus, especially, got in there and said 'no, you can't. You've got to go all the way to the end. This can't be transferred. This is a personality following. They trust you. They don't trust politicians.'"
Ultimately, Wead believes it was Trump's rough persona that put him over the top, allowing him to overcome the odds and defeat Hillary Clinton.
"That was the key to Trump, his brilliant branding. When you think of a brand...his brand was 'Make America Great Again' and the second part of his brand is 'I'm not a politician.' So, when he got off message, and people complained about that all the time, he was really on message because he was saying I'm not a politician, look at this dumb thing I'm saying. It kept the ball rolling. Yes, he's going to make America great and no, he is not a politician, look what they've done to us."
