Former RNC Chair exploded on the Republican Party’s Russia Scandal response but ultimately pointed out an unfortunate truth for Democrats that does not bode well for a Democratic 2018 midterm blue wave.
Fmr. RNC Chair Michael Steele displays frustration at his party
Democrats are currently wallowing in what they believe is a sure victory in 2o18 midterms. Former RNC Chair Michael Steele has a warning.
“I’ve said it now for six months,” Michael Steele said. “The drip, drip, drip in this campaign and now into this administration will be its death knell. And it rings every frigging day for the Republican Party. And they better wake their butts up and understand.”
Stephanie Ruhle asked why the Republican Party is allowing it to happen.
“Because they are scared of one tenth of one percent of a base that is lock step with Donald Trump.” the former RNC Chair replied. “And the leadership is frozen. They have cement around their feet, and they refuse to move. They can’t get an agenda passed. Seven years healthcare? — This is a joke. Infrastructure? Won’t happen. Tax reform? Forget about it. Because the focus right now is on getting to the bottom of the crap that is building up around this administration that is weighing down the party. And if they don’t wake up, there will be no party.”
The other panelist, Bloomberg Businessweek Editor Megan Murphy, asked an important question.
“The more interesting question I think is, yes they are playing to the forty percent base that has stuck with Trump,” Megan Murphy said. “The issue is, are the American people and the American voters going to connect this morass, this Moscow led mess that they are in day after day, only with Trump or with the Republican Party more broadly. Are they going to see the failure to move ahead with this agenda which is critical to the American people? Are they going to connect it? Is it 2018 and the ship are going down for the Republicans? I don’t see the Democrats, putting forward the most positive case right now.”
Michael Steele concurred.
“Ironically that is their saving grace right now because the Democrats are equally incompetent in putting together any plan to strategize,” Steele said. “At this point in the 2010 cycle, I had an idea of how I was going to go after the Democrats on health care. This team on the Democratic side have no clue. If you listen to the party leadership, they are like space cadets on steroids. They have no idea how to come at Donald Trump. And I keep telling them, Donald Trump is not your problem. You have to have the conversation with the base of the party, yes. But expand that out to include people who are sitting there right now going, ‘I don’t know if I like all this crazy. Show me something different.’
Michael Steele and Megan Murphy are correct. The Democrats have a great platform. Their policies as codified, are what most American want. They are unable to package it into a coherent narrative that rolls off the tongue of every Democrat appearing on TV, radio, or print.
Democrats give millions of dollars to consultants that create lousy narratives that do not speak to but a small swath of the party. It is true that the Democratic base does not vote as they should. But the reality is Democrats need to hire people who know how to talk to their base instead of the same old tired failed Washington consultancy.