Appearing on MSNBC's "Way Too Early" former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele ripped into the Republican Party as the RNC prepares on Friday to formally censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) for voting to impeach former president Donald Trump who has made them the focus of his ire within the GOP.
Speaking with host Jonathan Lemire, Steele said the party is doing irreparable damage to itself if it continues to make moves designed to appease the former president.
"Today, of course, is when the RNC will weigh a measure to censure Representatives Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. How do you anticipate it playing out and what are your thoughts?" Lemire asked.
"The effort is to try to embarrass these individuals, men and women with strong conservative credentials inside the party," Steele immediately replied. "So, yeah, the 168 members of the committee will get to vote on the panel recommendation that was led by the National Committee-man, unfortunately, of Maryland, Dave Bossie to censure these two, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for, guess what? Not because they've suddenly become a pariah on policy and they've suddenly thrown back against long-held Republican values. No, because they won't sidle up to Donald Trump and promote the big lie."
"So this is a stain on the party, it is an ugly stain on the party and it is going to be one that will make it very hard for candidates going forward to fully participate in the party's structure because the litmus test becomes whether or not you are willing to acknowledge the big lie as truth," he continued.
"What does it say, Michael, about what you think the impact Trump still has on this party?" the MSNBC host pressed.
"Oh, there's no doubt he has an impact," Steele shot back. "I mean they wouldn't know what to do without him at this point. There's no clarity among the elected leadership to break away from it, certainly not among the political leadership at the state level and nationally. So this cements the long road, the long effort to lock this party in as the Trump party. It is no longer Republican. It has lost all tenets of conservatism at this point. The reality is whatever Trump wants is what you will see produced and projected back to the public, and it begins with this effort to censure Liz and Adam."
Watch below:
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