Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Friday warned Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that he's deluding himself if he thinks that he'll ever be able to work constructively with the Republican Party again.
Writing at MSNBC, Steele argued that the Republican Party that Schumer once knew was "never coming back" and he urged the New York Democrat to give up his fantasy that his Republican colleagues in the Senate would ever renounce President Donald Trump.
"One by one, the Republicans who stood up to Trump in the beginning have either left politics or capitulated, often in humiliating fashion," he observed. "Far too many of today’s Republicans are unwilling to call out Trump's seedy dealings with Russia, heed warnings about the perils of relying too heavily on tariffs or stand with law enforcement over pro-Trump extremists — all positions that are unpopular with broad swaths of voters."
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What's more, Steele argued that Republican base voters absolutely love what they're seeing from Trump and will punish any Republican who tries to push back.
"MAGA officials repeatedly race to outdo each others’ depravity because they know today’s Republican voters will reward them for it," he writes.
Steele concludes by emphasizing that "the old Republican Party is not coming back" and "the sooner Schumer and those Republicans interested in the re-emergence of traditional republicanism understand this reality, the sooner we move on from Trumpism."