Michael Steele's got a good gig going as an MSNBC political analyst. And if that means that the former RNC Chairman must throw fellow Republicans under the bus, well, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.
And thus there was Steele on Joy Reid's MSNBC show on Saturday morning. Guest host Jonathan Capehart played a clip of American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp on CNN, attempting to make a point about the implications of prospective articles of impeachment that don't include allegations of criminality.
Before Schlapp could make his point, Alisyn Camerota shut him down. But oddly, Capehart took CNN's display of intolerance of conservative voices as a point in liberals' favor. Capehart invited Steele to comment on their usual outrage that the Republicans didn't throw Trump out of office yet, and the "MSNBC Republican" knew just what was expected of him, obligingly opining that "It is embarrassing how pathetic these sycophants have become, how desperate they are for one man, one man, to like them, to not tweet about them, to say something good about them, to endorse them."
Well done, Mr. Steele! Your future MSNBC appearances are assured, just so long as you continue to castigate your former political friends.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
AM Joy
11/2/19
10:55 am EDT
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Chairman Steele, I'm going to start with you. But before that, let's play this soundbite, this interview that Matt Schlapp did on another network.
MATT SCHLAPP: What’s good about it is that if there are no crimes and if they don’t come forward with articles that show any criminality but just like your polling that you guys have done —
ALISYN CAMEROTA: Matt, it doesn’t have to be a crime. That’s just misleading.
SCHLAPP: Ann [Navarro] talked for two straight minutes —
CAMEROTA: You need to not be misleading --
SCHLAPP: Let me talk!
CAMEROTA: You know that a crime is not the standard, Matt.
SCHLAP: Don't have an assymmetrical standard --
CAMEROTA: Don't misuse information.
CAPEHART: That’s Matt Schlapp, Chairman of the American Conservative Union . . . Chairman Steele, are you surprised — I mean, you know all these people. You know everybody who is in that mash-up we just played. You know Matt Schlapp. Are you surprised, given all your years in the Republican party and all the values and things that it stood for and stands for in your mind, that these people are siding, despite all the facts that we know, that have been released by the president, that they’re still sticking by him?
MICHAEL STEELE: Not only surprised, but highly disappointed. It is embarrassing how pathetic these sycophants have become, how desperate they are for one man, one man, to like them, to not tweet about them, to say something good about them, to endorse them. It is embarrassingly pathetic for a party that has a rich and long tradition for standing with the rule of law, standing against our enemies, foreign and domestic, so that would include Russia and the KKK.
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