Former RNC Chair On Republicans Threatening Civil War: ‘I Don’t Know What The Hell’s Wrong With These People’
On Saturday, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, appeared on MSNBC to join a discussion about Republicans threatening to start a civil war, Mediaite reports.
As MSNBC’s Glenn Kirschner and Jonathan Capehart noted, Republicans such as Texas Representative Louie Gohmert and Steve King of Iowa have suggested that the impeachment of President Donald Trump could lead to a civil war.
Even the president has amplified such suggestions, recently sharing a quote from pastor Robert Jeffress, who warned that the United States could be on the verge of an armed conflict.
Some Trump supporters have apparently expressed willingness to start a civil war as well, as the voicemail shared by Democrat David Cicilline suggests — the Congressman published a voicemail in which a man claiming to support Trump bragged about being ready to go to war if Democrats move forward with impeachment.
“Yeah, I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with these people,” Steele said of Republicans in the United States Congress and other Trump allies.
“I think we just need to be straight up about it and just call them out. Jeffress, Gohmert, all of them are — this is something they want,” he added.
The former RNC chair said that all Americans need to “push back” on this rhetoric.
“When did we have all this conversation about a civil war? Who started this silliness? Over Donald Trump? Are you frigging kidding me? I’m going to go to civil — I’m going to go against my neighbor? Over Donald Trump?”
“This shows you the lunacy of this time,” he added.
Steele concluded that the United States is “better than this.”
As Mediaite notes, it is not only congressional Republicans and those in Trump’s orbit that have suggested impeachment could lead to a full-blown civil war — some of the president’s media allies have been talking about the possibility for quite some time.
Former RNC Chair @MichaelSteele calls Republicans in Congress "sycophants" who are scared of Trump tweeting mean things about them. #ctl #amjoy pic.twitter.com/a0qAAkqNd3
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) November 2, 2019
Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, for instance, has “raised the specter of civil war” on his show, as have numerous Federalist and Townhall writers. According to them, the Democratic Party is trying to undo the 2016 presidential election, and seeking to start a “coup” in order to remove Trump from office.
Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer recently expressed similar concerns. In an interview, Spicer explained that he believes Trump has a loyal “army” of supporters, willing to do anything to protect their president.
Spicer also suggested that Trump uses inflammatory rhetoric in order to keep his base galvanized and willing to campaign and vote for him.
