Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Tuesday explained how former President Donald Trump used an outdated page from the playbook to undermine everyone about the impeachment he wants.
Trump on Saturday announced that he would be arrested on Tuesday as part of the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into alleged payments to silence porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Steele, standing in for Chris Hayes as guest host on MSNBC’s “All In on Tuesday,” noted how Tuesday came and went, and Trump was not arrested. “But we really shouldn’t be surprised, right?” he asked. “That’s what Trump did. He’s a total punk.”
“What we saw this weekend is that Trump is again trying to create a narrative before he can run it,” Steele said. “The former president set the tone and the outcome on his terms. So, when the real story came out, everyone played catch-up.
After Trump’s arrest statement, people “all followed their lead instead of waiting for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to set the facts,” Steele continued. “Did the DA’s office tell us? No, Trump did. He thought, ‘Yeah, just do it … Put it in there and everybody’s going to eat it for a few days.'”
The bottom line, Steele said, is that “if and when he’s actually indicted, all of his supporters will be fired and ready to go and everyone who’s in that version of events is conspiring against him to make the indictment happen, well, guess what. , he’s going to be defensive about it.”