Priebus could have given real force to the NeverTrump crowd in his position and it was clear they expected him to. For whatever reason, he wouldn’t and didn’t. This itself is deserving of reward.
Romney gathered a bunch of NeverTrumpers together and invited Priebus to speak. This was pre-convention but post Paul Manafort. Priebus told Romney’s well-heeled crowd, ‘Trump will win this with or without you.’
I always thought Manafort was the one to convert Priebus. At any rate, he stayed converted.
But he ran the RNC and the RNC often wasn’t deploying its field forces to help the Trump vote at all.
I think what happened was that Reince got to know Trump and he really, really liked him .... realized that he was smart and talented, a ‘people’ person, and that despite the naysayers, the Republicans had a candidate who could win.
I’d rather see Priebus stay with the RNC because the next 4 years are going to go by fast & the Democrats will be desperate to win. That being said, he’d be a good Chief of Staff.
I trust Trump to pick the people he needs and wants to get done what he promised.