"That's what I'm talking about. Bring that resistance!"
That was self-described Republican Michael Steele on Saturday's edition of MSNBC's The Weekend, urging far-left Dem Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal to resist Donald Trump.
Steele and Jayapal each claimed that they have very different views on many issues, but are united in resisting the predations of Orange Man Bad.
But when's the last time anyone heard Steele forcefully express his supposedly still-Republican views on the show? His positions have been indistinguishable from those of his highly-partisan Dem co-hosts, Alicia Menendez and Symone Sanders.
Speaking of the latter, Sanders repeatedly waved her handkerchief [see screencap] to show her solidarity with the people attending Jayapal's town halls who cry over the DOGE efforts to shrink the federal government.
Wanting to preserve her far-left street cred, Jayapal claimed: "All of us know, that America has been cruel at many, many, many times in our country's history."
She also mentioned that later today, she will be speaking "at one of the Tesla takedowns." So Jayapal is trying to fulfill Jasmine Crockett's birthday [which falls today] wish: "All I want for my birthday is for Elon Musk to be taken down." Sharp keys to be distributed to all in attendance?
Jayapal also accused the Trump administration of "disappearing" people. She warned that while it's only been immigrants for now, all Americans are at risk of being disappeared. Ay caramba: ¡Los Desaparecidos!
Jayapal claimed that Trump's goal is to enrich the "very tiny" number of the super rich, while "everybody else is down and and literally destroyed." Yikes! Well, look at the bright side, Pramila. If 99% of the population is "literally destroyed" by Trump, at least that should make it easier to find a parking spot.
Note: Beyond urging Jayapal to "bring that resistance," Michael Steele chipped in with some shots of his own at our country and at Trump. He called the Constitution "wonderful," but added "the Framers didn't include you or me in [it]." And he absurdly claimed that the Resistance is about "this idea that you and me are not worthy to be Americans." What?
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
The Weekend
3-29-25
9:39 am EDTMICHAEL STEELE: Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has been hosting packed town halls in Washington State, addressing her voters' about federal funding cuts. Hundreds of constituents have gathered to voice their anxieties about potential Republican-backed changes to programs like Medicaid and Social Security.
The Congresswoman has also kicked off a program she's calling the Resistance Lab, a series of sessions aimed at turning the anger of those constituents into action.
MICHAEL STEELE: That's what I'm talking about! Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington joins us now. Bring that resistance, Congresswoman! Let's talk. C'mon.
WOMAN AT JAYAPAL TOWN HALL: 40% of my team was fired Today I had a tell a grad student who had traveled here from Maine that the person she was most excited to meet was not available for her to talk to [chokes up.]
. . .
PRAMILA JAYAPAL: I think, you know, we are starting to literally stock tissue boxes at our town halls . . . There was another woman who got up, and she's pregnant. She has a young child already, and she was in tears, and she said she was Googling, how do I go to Canada to get a vaccine for my baby?
. . .
The cruelty, I mean, I think that I was on a plane back from Seattle, or to Seattle the other day, and the flight attendant pulled me aside, and he said,
When did America become so cruel? Now, you and I both, all of us know, that America has been cruel at many, many, many times in our country's history. But there was an idea that we were trying to be better.. . .
And I'm going to go speak at one of the Tesla takedowns later today across the country. But people talk about how this was supposed to be about, you know, draining the swamp. Remember those words, draining the swamp? This is like a whole out stealing from the American people.
. . .
The whole goal here is power to be able to unilaterally slash and burn so that a very tiny few group of people at the top are able to get even richer and richer, and everybody else is down and and literally destroyed in terms of their families.
. . .
MICHAEL STEELE: Congresswoman, let the record reflect that, you know, you and I in any other universe, probably on Earth 2, 3, and 4, would disagree a lot on a lot of big policy issues.
SYMONE SANDERS: He's still a Republican.
STEELE: I'm still a Republican. But here's where you and I are aligned, and I think it's important for America to know what this moment requires from each of us. This idea that we have in front of us a threat, a direct threat to our liberties, to our sense and appreciation of freedom, and more importantly, the fundamental constitutional idea that every one of us, you and me, despite our policy disagreements, are still Americans.
We're still protected by this wonderful Constitution that the Framers didn't include you or me in, right? But we now own it. So I appreciate the storylines that you're leveling up about resistance to this idea that you and me are not worthy to be Americans.
. . .
This isn't resistance because I don't like where you stand on health care or resistance because I don't like where you stand on taxes. This is resistance because we don't like what Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Pam Bondi and Pete Hegseth are doing to our country?
. . .
JAYAPAL: They are actually disappearing people, and this is something that hasn't gotten enough attention. They are literally taking people on the streets in a way that you might see in authoritarian governments, and they are disappearing them out of the country or into jails far, far away from where their families are.
And it's happening by the hundreds and it's being praised as something
is just about immigrants. But let me tell you something. This is about every one of us, because if you can do that to a legal permanent resident, somebody who's here on a legal valid visa because you don't like what they are saying or you don't agree with them, then every American has to worry about what that means for them.. . .
We're doing this resistance lab and tomorrow we'll have, I think it's now over 1,800 people plus over 120 groups that are going to be Zoomed in for this training on how you resist and what are the most effective tactics to resist dictators trying to take over democracies.
SANDERS: Thank you, Michael [again waves her hanky.]
STEELE: I saw the hanky, and we'll leave that exclamation point by Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal right there.
