I was maybe the earliest person who was constructive toward Trump who served at a high level in the Bush administration. I took a lot of guff from my former Bush colleagues who didn't see what was happening in the country. I'm not smarter than they are or a better person than they are. I just traveled a lot around the country.
Matt SchlappChairman Priebus set out on an early and historic political outreach plan which called for investing resources early to build the RNC network well before Election Day. And although the elections are still eight months away, all indications are that the money has been well spent. Our message is getting out to the Hispanic, Asian and African American communities. If we can continue to implement this plan, we will be able to save the country from further policy damages at the hand of President Obama and the Democrats.
Matt SchlappP.J. O'Rourke says that conservatives really hate government and every couple of years we put them in charge and then we're reminded how much we really hate government. We're not always necessarily great at the task of running government. We're the anti-government party. It actually makes some sense we're not so good at that. But you got to have basic competence in how you run the government, even in how you reduce its effectiveness in people's lives.
Matt SchlappI do think Donald Trump has conservative instincts. I think he had anti-Obama instincts. I think he saw Obamacare, the Obama foreign policy, the Obama economic policies as harmful to America.
Matt SchlappDonald Trump has many ads about Hillary Clinton's character and it's fair to look at both.
Matt SchlappI don't want to allow everyone in the media to say everyone is in the alt right, which is what they try to do too often. Then it's their judgment on who is a racist and who isn't.
Matt SchlappI think where conservatives were wary of Trump is he had not advocated for conservative positions for decades. He had been more meandering in his politics, including being a Democrat, including writing checks to Democrats. I have said that it's impossible to say what a candidate is until they get to office, especially someone who has never been in office before.
Matt Schlapp