Ex-RNC chair explains 'sweet spot' and 'ugly underbelly' of Trump legal battle 'political ramifications'
20 December 2023
During a Wednesday night conversation with MSNBC's Chris Hayes, ex-Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele and Protect Democracy writer and editor Amanda Carpenter weighed the consequences of Donald Trump's Colorado case saying he's disqualified from running for office, and his DC case, which will determine whether he's immune from prosecution. Both cases are set to go to the US Supreme Court in the coming weeks.
Hayes points out that the "biggest thing" he's seen "people arguing about" as Trump's US Supreme Court legal battles mounts, are the "political ramifications" of it all. "What does this do to the country? What does it do to politics? What does it do to legitimacy? he asked Carpenter.
"Well, my impression is that we are gonna have more questions than just this case more broadly about the rule of law," she said. "I mean, the reason we are here is not because Americans say, 'oh, we have kings in our country, we are okay with dictatorship, Donald Trump could do whatever he want.' That is not what has happened at all. The only people failing to hold Trump accountable so far are members of the elite and the Republican Party, either through the impeachment process or the unfolding Republican primary process."
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She continued, "The American people rejected him [when it came to] re-electing him as president in 2020. But put that aside — now we are testing questions of legal accountability. And people absolutely have right to ask that question, 'Courts, hey, does the 14th amendment mean actually what it says? Could the court decide that?' So the only thing we should be really worried about in terms of the politics is are we going to resolve these questions quickly before the elections, so that Americans can have full knowledge whether Trump was involved in an insurrection and should be disqualified from office. But more broadly, I think the more important question, legally, is being posed right now by [special counsel] Jack Smith and whether Donald Trump as a president is immune from the law or not."
Hayes asked Steele, "Michael, what do you think?"
The former RNC chair said, "I agree with that analysis. I think it's spot on. This is exactly where we are. So, I want to take what Amanda just said and just move it out a bit further because that is the sweet spot of the argument. now, let's deal with the ugly underbelly of the argument." Because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how this plays out. there is a narrative that has been set in motion around Donald Trump, that regardless of outcomes, circumstances, or situations, the endgame is the same, to empower him, and to empower this movement that is enabling him, that will not hold him accountable for anything. So, while the court is swinging, and thinking, and moving, and in some cases, as we've seen, in some of the issues related to his free speech rights as a candidate, bending over backwards and trying to stay consistent with the constitutional norms and the rule of law, you have at end, within the Republican party itself, among activists around the country, a general consensus that this is all about Trump, and we will be there to make it realizable for him. Whether he is rejected by the American people or not, the narrative stays the same for them.
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