Former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Friday that President Joe Biden is unifying the Republican Party with his executive orders.
“What Biden did was make it instantly easier to draw the lines and have everyone get in their corners and make the Republican versus Democrat dynamic live on. And he did it in one day,” Priebus told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”
Biden began signing executive orders countering those issued by former President Donald Trump, including instructions that the United States should rejoin the Paris climate accord.
“So the R versus D dynamic is back and it’s because he didn’t take his time doing the things he wanted to do.” (RELATED: Lindsey Graham: ‘If You’re Wanting To Erase Donald Trump From The [Republican] Party, You’re Going To Get Erased’)
Although Priebus acknowledged that it was difficult for the Republican Party to lose both the presidency and its majority in the Senate, he said Biden has made it easier because on “the first day he goes after Keystone [XL pipeline], he goes after the Paris [climate] agreement, stop building the wall … ”
”What makes it a lot easier, Dana, is that if you’re party chair, you’re trying to keep the Republican Party together, and it is a tough time now for the Republican Party.”
Priebus said the executive orders have also made it easier for Trump to survive a Senate vote on impeachment because “some of those Republicans that wanted to maybe take a position that was more nuanced in regard to President Trump — they’re not going to do it now.” (RELATED: Lindsey Graham Says A Pardon Of Capitol Rioters ‘Would Be Wrong … Would Destroy President Trump’ And They Should Be Fully Prosecuted)
“What’s being miscalculated here is that Donald Trump is extremely popular in the Republican Party. And so that’s not going away. And by opening up this now so fast it’s going to blow up their plans both for disunity in the republican party and their own agenda,” Priebus said.
He noted that it “never helps to lose the legislature and the White House” but that Biden is doing his best to maintain “the Trump piece together in the party” and the Democrats “are agitating that box making it easier for Republicans to do that.”
US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One before departing Harlingen, Texas on Jan. 12, 2021. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
The House of Representatives voted Jan. 13 to impeach Trump for the second time for allegedly inciting the riot that broke out Jan. 6. During the riot, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.
Ten House Republicans voted to impeach Trump, including Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney. According to one report, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was considering voting for impeachment and just this Tuesday said the rioters “were fed lies” and were “provoked by the president.”
