Nicolle Wallace schools Republicans: 'We are sleepwalking toward another disaster'
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace noticed that during Donald Trump's CPAC speech Saturday, he made a little comment she called a "tell" that he's concerned about the flood of litigation against him.
Former FBI agent Peter Strzok began the conversation, noting that by bringing in top aides like Hope Hicks and Kellyanne Conway, the Manhattan district attorney's office is showing its likely in the late stages of its case against Trump for hush-money payments.
That's just one of many lawsuits that Trump is facing as he mounts a 2024 challenge to President Joe Biden. But before Trump gets to Biden, he must face off against other Republican challengers, one of which might be Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
After reading some of the language from Trump's CPAC speech, Wallace specifically highlighted the phrase, "I didn't even know the word subpoena." Trump's first lawsuit was in the 1970s, and he's dealt with hundreds of lawsuits since, she said.
"I think sometimes with Trump the projection gets mixed up with a little bit of a tell," said Wallace. "And this 'I didn't hear the word subpoena,' I think is foreshadowing that he knows the end is near in terms of not being charged and indicted."
She continued, "I think it's clear that a lot of his most intimate advisers, people who saw so much on Jan. 6, I think it was Hope Hicks who described the White House as look like domestic terrorists. So, people who really saw everything are really in front of grand juries and prosecutors."
According to conservative Charlie Sykes, DeSantis, or any other challenger, should bring up Trump's legal issues, though he doesn't anticipate they will.
"He is the front-runner, and he could be indicted, and it might actually boost his standing in the polls," Sykes said. "Chris Christie is right about the normal rules about a defendant in a case like this, but the normal rules clearly do not apply to Donald Trump. We ought to have learned that over the last six or seven years. So, when he stands up there and says, 'Of course, I'm going to stay in the race,' because first of all, he has the bully pulpit that he can use to push back against the prosecutors.
So, his strategy's going to be delay, deflect, and attack. And he is convinced, based on past experience, that you will have the Republican base rally around him and he's convinced that his fellow Republican candidate will never attack him on this."
Sykes explained that's the big question that will be interesting over the next year: whether any other Republican will echo the sentiment of Christie.
"Will any other Republican say we can't have a candidate for president of the United States who is facing indictment and possible prison?" asked Sykes. "Because you know what the blowback would be. I think a lot of these guys think that they can go around Donald Trump, that they can run for president without saying his name, without bringing up Jan. 6, without bringing up the indictments. And I think that's incredibly naive, but that is what Donald Trump is counting on, and he may not be wrong."
Wallace said that she didn't want to accept that idea, but she knew the GOP was racing off the cliff. As a former George W. Bush communications strategist in the White House, Wallace was once a Republican. She has since abandoned the party along with a slew of other strategists who took issue with Trump.
"I think you're accurate as a predictive measure," she continued. "But Donna Edwards, to all the Republicans who normally communicate with me on Signal, help me out. Donald Trump is setting up a more catastrophic domestic extremism situation than what he put in motion on Jan. 6. And if you're going to sit back and watch and see what kind of grip he still has on your base, you have another thing coming. You will have blood on your hands. If Republicans sit back — Paul Ryan sends pearl-clutching e-mails to others at Fox and says, 'Oh, this is dangerous.' Where are these people? They know how dangerous it is. Officer [Sgt. Aquilino] Gonell can tell them how dangerous it is. So, can officer Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone. The those who lost their lives. So, can the mother of Ashleigh Babbit. We are sleepwalking toward another disaster."
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