RNC Chief Strategist on the rise of Donald Trump
On March 7, 2016, Republican National Committee chief strategist and communications director Sean Spicer joined Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga to talk about the state of the GOP race for president, the rise of Donald Trump ahead of another round of primary voting and the passing of former first lady Nancy Reagan.
On the rise of Trump as the GOP frontrunner, Spicer told Golodryga:
“There are people that he is speaking to who haven’t been spoken to in the past. There are people upset with Washington. He’s tapping into that.” He did express concern, however, with aspects of Trump’s presentation. “We need to be conscious of our tone. We have to be able to keep it PG or lower.”
On the back and forth between Trump and the RNC, Spicer said: “He’s new to politics. He admits it. He’s a newcomer to this. He hasn’t run before, so I think part of this is understanding the role of the RNC. We are the neutral entity that lays out the rules for everyone … and ensures that we have the resources to help them win.”
On some of the heated rhetoric from Trump and others, like former candidate Mitt Romney calling Trump a “fraud,” and commentator Glenn Beck comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler, Spicer said: “This is kind of what America’s all about. If you want, you can tweet, post, yell, scream, write an op-ed, but I think being involved is one way and voting is the other.”
On the controversy surrounding Trump denouncing David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, Spicer said: “I think he needs to see and he saw that last week that when certain things happen, there is no equivocation.” He continued, “Certain things are black and white in politics in this day and age. That’s one of them.”
On the calls by Trump and Cruz to narrow the field, Spicer said, “Each one of these individuals has to decide how much support he has, the resources that they need to go on, and whether or not it’s important for them to stay in or not.”
Spicer said if Sen. Marco Rubio loses the Florida primary on February 15, the decision of whether to continue in the race is not up to the party, but to Rubio himself. “The party is not choosing,” Spicer said. “The people are choosing.”
On any damage Trump has done in alienating minority voters, something the RNC specifically addressed in its own analysis of the 2012 election, Spicer said, “There’s a vast difference between what the party has done” and the actions of specific candidates.
On the no-holds-barred spirit at the GOP debates, Spicer told Golodryga: “In trying to distinguish between the candidates and their policies, I think sometimes it becomes a little visceral, a little personal. I’m not sure that that helps us.”
