Trump shouldn't count on Republican voters to show up in droves on election day: Ex-RNC head

With two weeks left before election day, former Republican National Committee head Michael Steele suggested Republicans who have not taken advantage of early or mail-in voting may end up staying home -- or voting for former Vice PresidentJoe Biden -- on November 3rd.

Steele, who is featured in a new Lincoln Project ad endorsing Biden (which can be seen below), appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" to discuss his decision to turn his back on his party and was asked if he is alone among GOP voters when it comes to flipping for the Democratic nominee.

"Look, it's a hard river to cross, it's tough for sure, particularly if you have been in that environment that that's what you have done," he admitted. "But you stop and ask yourself, well, what is it that matters? How do you explain to your children, 'yeah, we have a great 401(k),' but, you know, just ignore all of the behavior."

"We don't raise our kids that way," continued. "We do make the choices we make, the very hard choices in our families. I said to a friend of mine who was, you know, giving me some grief about it. I said, well, look, you have a kid who has straight A's and you're very proud of that. They bring home the grades every day, I said. But when the neighbors knock on your door and complain about the behavior of your child, you discount that?"

Pressed by "Morning Joe" regular Mike Barnicle on what to expect from his fellow Republicans, Steele stated, "I think you're starting -- you have seen that bleeding, if you will, and it's not complicated."

"You know, a lot of these families have been hit hard by COVID-19," he explained. "They have been hit hard by the flat-lining of the economy and they have also been hit and touched by the civil rights moment of this time, where all of these things have now come together and you realize that it's not just about the label of being a Republican, and it's about the kind of leader who moves you through these moments."

"So when you say 'come back home to the Republican Party and come back home to Donald Trump,' come back home to what?" he asked. "Come back home to the mishandling of COVID-19? Come back home to, you know, putting children in cages? Come back home to s-hole countries?  What are you coming back home to? What are you resting your laurels on? What are you patting him on the back for? You've got a great 401(k) but that's been hit and if you're lucky enough to have it recover, okay, now you're spending your money to pay for your health care because you have COVID-19 or paying for the funeral expenses of a family member who died from COVID-19. There are these reminders of what this leadership has wrought every day."

Watch below:

Lincoln Project add: