Why Reince Priebus Was Selected as Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff

November 14, 2016 by Jon C. Ogg

Now that the election has concluded, it is important to understand or at least try to interpret what the real changes ahead might actually look like. The election rhetoric was literally almost 18 months on both sides of the aisle, and now we are starting to see the first glimpses of real policies and real staff likely to be in the White House.

24/7 Wall St. wanted to look at both sides of the coin around many issues ahead, as well as what the public might want to expect or should expect to see. These will range from policy changes, cabinet members, taxation and regulation, and many more issues on a wide set of topics.

Now that Reince Priebus has been named as Donald Trump’s chief of staff, we wanted to see why Priebus was selected and what are perhaps some of the defining parts of his background.

His full name is Reinhold Richard Priebus. He was born in 1972 and is an attorney. His wife’s name is Sally and they have two children. His Twitter handle is @Reince and his educational background was at University of Miami School of Law (1998) and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (1994).

The very first thing to consider about Priebus is that he was the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was elected to that position on January 14, 2011, ahead of the 2012 election, and he was reelected as the Chairman of the RNC on January 25, 2013, and on January 16, 2015.

According to the RNC website, Priebus was set to become the longest serving chairman in modern history after serving a total of three terms. What might be less reported in the public is that he was instrumental in making technology and infrastructure changes inside the RNC, and he has spoken at political events about getting the RNC caught up on how to use big data ahead of and around elections.

Priebus was chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. He is said to be friends with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and he is deemed to be a known commodity to every single Republican party official. Other positions held were as the 1st Congressional District chairman, state party treasurer, first vice chair, and the state party chairman.

In an effort to show both sides of the coin, it is important to see what conservative and liberal media have said since the appointment.

The New York Times noted that Trump’s appointment of Priebus was turning to a Washington insider whose friendship with House Speaker Paul Ryan could help secure early legislative victories. The New York Times also opined about the dual appointments of Priebus as chief of staff and Stephen Bannon as chief strategist.

Fox News also ran four takeaways from the decision to make Priebus the chief of staff, and Priebus himself gave Fox a five-minute video interview explaining what he will do going forward.

We have also included Priebus’s official statement from November 9, after the election results were known.

Other chief of staff appointments and terms over the past 20 years were shown as follows, with the most recent first:

  • Denis McDonough (D) January 20, 2013, to present
  • Jack Lew (D) January 27, 2012, to January 20, 2013
  • Bill Daley (D) January 13, 2011, to January 27, 2012
  • Pete Rouse (D) October 1, 2010, to January 13, 2011
  • Rahm Emanuel (D) January 20, 2009, to October 1, 2010
  • Joshua Bolten (R) April 14, 2006, to January 20, 2009
  • Andrew Card (R) January 20, 2001, to April 14, 2006
  • John Podesta (D) October 20, 1998, to January 20, 2001
  • Erskine Bowles (D) January 20, 1997, to October 20, 1998

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