Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) knows a lot about racism. He is an African American himself, and he has always been loyal to his party. But when it comes to racism, he refuses to stay silent.
But this morning Steele had some harsh words for his fellow Republicans all over the country. He said that GOP candidates have allowed President Donald Trump’s “inherent racism” to take over their messaging.
Steele is now a regular MSNBC contributor and was on “Morning Joe” talking about how Republican House and Senate candidates are now complicit with Trump’s messaging which he believes is both racist and misogynistic.
“It’s not like Republicans don’t have a narrative they can go out into the country and talk about,” Steele said. “But no, they’ve fallen into this bucket where they feel they can peddle, or at least stay silent on inherent racism, misogynistic language, and bad behavior.”
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“And somehow they think they can sit back and the American people are going to go, ‘we want more of that.’ Well, this election is going to be a very important tell on which direction America wants to go,” he added.
Steele is a frequent critic of the president and the Republican Party’s direction. In February a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) official said Steele had been elected as RNC chair due to his race, which caused the former chairman to issue a harsh rebuke.
Steele also criticized Trump and the GOP for their proposed school safety plan earlier this year. He called the president’s plan to arm teachers “delusional.”
In February, he also attacked the “Trumpification” of the GOP, which he said would lead to the party’s destruction.
“This Trumpification of the party is not just dangerous, it’s deadly to its future, and I think that people have to be aware of that,” he said at the time. “What’s happening now is that it has retrenched into a very comfortable corner, and everything outside of that corner is not good for it, in its view. It wants to attack it, it wants to avoid it, it doesn’t want to engage with it in an open way.”
Michael Steele is right. Under Donald Trump the Republican Party is now not only “the stupid party” but also “the racist party.” We have received reports that many traditional Republican voters are not happy with what Trump has done to their party. If they take their dissatisfaction out on GOP candidates in today’s elections, and vote for Democrats, then there is no question that today’s elections will be successful in sending a message to the president that they don’t like what he is doing to the Republican Party — or to the country.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
