Despite spending most of her time bashing Donald Trump and Republicans on MSNBC, Nicolle Wallace is still invited to lecture the GOP. The McCain/Palin ‘08 strategist on Monday described herself as a “non-practicing Republican” on TBS’s Conan. She also insisted that you can’t talk to Trump-supporting family members about the President.
Asked by host Conan O’Brien about what caused her to leave the Republican Party, Wallace described: “I'm a non-practicing Republican. You know, like Catholics?” She added that it’s “it's hard to recognize the party.”
Wallace, who famously clashed with Sarah Palin in 2008, yet again named the former Alaska governor as a big reason she left the party:
NICOLLE WALLACE: I think in 2008 to work for John McCain, who is also in pretty bad shape health wise, to see that Sarah Palin's crowds were bigger and more enthusiastic for the crazy things she was saying than his was really the canary in the mine and the signal the party had changed.
O’BRIEN: Telling you something was happening in this country that was angrier.
WALLACE: Yes.
O’BRIEN: And more extreme. Darker.
The MSNBC host then described the difficulty of talking to her Trump-supporting parents and other relatives:
It’s good not to fight about it because they are great grandparents, great parents.... And this is the thing about having friends that are still Republicans that are Trump Republicans, all those friendships are by and large on ice because there is no sort of talking to both sides of the question.
Wallace doesn’t exactly try and “talk to both sides of the question” on MSNBC. On the March 14, 2018 Deadline: White House, she blasted Trump as a “bleep-hole.”
On March 12, 2018, Wallace rejected the “mythology” of Trump’s “humanity.”
On March 6, 2018, Wallace suffered a meltdown, calling for “truth tellers” at all Trump events. “Nothing he says is true,” she fumed.
A partial transcript is below:
Conan
4/23/18
11:51CONAN O’BRIEN: Let’s talk about you. You were obviously, clearly, a Republican. You're no longer a Republican. What caused the break?
NICOLLE WALLACE: I'm a non-practicing Republican. You know, like Catholics?
O’BRIEN: Yeah the way I'm Catholic.
WALLACE: Yes. So, you know, I'm still — it's hard to recognize the party.
O’BRIEN: Was there a moment for you when you thought, “I'm not part of what those people may be Republicans or that person may be a Republican but I'm not going with that?”
WALLACE: I mean, honestly, I think in 2008 to work for John McCain, who is also in pretty bad shape health wise, to see that Sarah Palin's crowds were bigger and more enthusiastic for the crazy things she was saying than his was really the canary in the mine and the signal the party had changed.
O’BRIEN: Telling you something was happening in this country that was angrier.
WALLACE: Yes.
O’BRIEN: And more extreme. Darker.
WALLACE: So she gave me my first shove, Trumpism gave me my last kick out the door.
O’BRIEN: I understand that. Now your family, though, you are trump supporters is that right? Your mother and father.
WALLACE: Yes. I don't know that they know I have a show on MSNBC. I think they've heard this. When people say we love your daughter. They always call and say why does my doctor know who you are? I have no idea.
...
WALLACE: It’s good not to fight about it because they are great grandparents, great parents. But there is no, and this is the thing about having friends that are still Republicans that are Trump Republicans, all those friendships are by and large on ice because there is no sort of talking to both sides of the question.
