Priebus: Trump is doing better with black and Hispanic voters

President Trump’s former chief of staff, Reince Priebus, on Sunday touted the president’s performance with black and Hispanic voters, saying Trump is following the plan set forth in the GOP’s “autopsy report” from 2013.

“I think he is following the advice. I think that if you look at what’s happening in the economy, you look at the tax cuts, you look at unemployment, I think those things matter a lot,” Priebus said on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

“I actually think he is doing better. I think he did better with black voters and Hispanic voters in the election. I think we can do more, I don’t think anything in the autopsy’s wrong,” he added.

{mosads}Priebus previously served as chairman of the Republican National Committee, which authored a report after Mitt Romney’s defeat in the 2012 presidential election detailing how the party could expand its base in future elections.

The report warned that minorities thought the GOP did not “like them or want them in the country,” and said Republicans should embrace immigration reform to expand their constituency.

Trump has frequently touted low unemployment numbers for black Americans, and tweeted that Democrats are to blame for the lack of an immigration deal.

He also, however, reportedly called Haiti, El Salvador and African nations “shithole countries,” and at his 2015 campaign launch said “rapists” and “criminals” were among immigrants from Mexico.

Priebus on Sunday praised Trump’s proposal for immigration reform amid the ongoing debate over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows certain immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, often called “Dreamers,” to remain here without fear of deportation. 

“I think the … position he’s taking on Dreamers and DACA is very bold,” Priebus said. “I think he’s boxed the Democrats in on that issue, I think it’s going to be very difficult for them to walk away from.”

The White House issued a proposal that would grant a pathway to citizenship for nearly 2 million Dreamers in exchange for tens of billions of dollars for border security and other policies that would dramatically restrict legal immigration in the coming years. The plan garnered opposition from both parties.