Michael Steele, unencumbered by actually working for the Republican Party or even, you know, a Republican candidate, took the peel off the Republican Party on MSNBC this morning.
MICHAEL STEELE: ...I’ve said it now for six months, the drip, drip, drip from this campaign and now into this administration [on Russia] will be its death knell, and it rings every frigging day for the Republican Party, and they better wake their butts up.”
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Why is the Republican Party letting this happen?
STEELE: They’re scared of one-tenth of 1 percent of a base that is lockstep with Donald Trump, 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 on health care? 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. If they don’t wake up, there will be no party going into next year.
Of course, Steele is lying about the Republican base, which supports Trump in the 80 percent range (which is terrible for any president in his first year, by the way.)
Stephanie Ruhle then asks if it's the base or the money, pointing out that the Mercer family, big lock-step-with-Trump billionaires, just wrote a big check at a Paul Ryan fundraiser.
"It's both," said Steele.
