Republican strategist blasts Trump for what he is doing to the GOP long-term

The Wall Street Journal explained why President Donald Trump's "base-only" reelection campaign may not be the best course of action if he intends to broaden the base of support. But one Republican strategist is thinking about the GOP in the wake of Trump's presidency.

"His path to re-election lies in exacerbating the divide between urban and rural America," GOP strategist Michael Steele said Sunday on MSNBC. "He needs an overperformance among older, whiter, more rural voters in order to win those states in the upper midwest that constitute his very narrow path to election in the first place. And so exacerbating that divide including with — with this racial language is going to be part of the playbook."

There's a population problem with that strategy. Rural America is slowly dying as Republican policies consolidate schools, supercenters put small family-owned stores out of business and community hospitals are forced to close. That adds to younger Americans not wanting to take over their family's farm or live in small towns. There simply aren't enough people in rural American to go up against urban and suburban America.

Steele called Trump's move toward racism a "dangerous strategy."

"The president has one election left," he told host Al Sharpton. "He only has to run again for re-election in 2020. That’s why he is only focused on those handfuls of voters in a handful of states. I worry as someone who wants to see more Republicans elected across the country for many elections to come, that this will damage and poison the entire brand. That’s why you see so many Republican elected officials recognizing the president’s popularity but at the same time, failing to echo a lot of the rhetoric that he’s using because it makes sense politically for him in the short-term but not for the long-term growth of the party."

Sharpton pointed out that Republicans aren't just "not echoing" Trump's talking points, they're simply refusing to respond. People of color will remember that Republicans were too cowardly to stand up for moral leadership. But Republicans are in a difficult position where Trump's base-strategy won't work for districts or even state-wide. But if they oppose the president, he'll launch a war against them that may include finding a Trump-friendly primary opponent.

"I think that it is disappointing," Steele said about the inability of Republican officials to stand up to Trump. "It is shameful that there is so little rebuke of the president and these unfortunate remarks, these remarks that echo a hateful past that has no place in our present or future."

However, he explained that racism pre-dates Trump's presidency and even birtherism.

"He played this role on the stage in New York for decades," Steele said. "I think we all need to report that the moral arc of the universe continues to bend toward justice. It zigs and zags. We’re enduring one of the more unfortunate valleys in our recent history when it comes to these issues.

Watch the full panel below: