Former GOP official: Those who think Trump's done are overlooking one very important factor
MSNBC's Michael Steele isn't ready to count out Donald Trump just yet because he hasn't actually started campaigning for president since announcing his 2024 run.
A parade of would-be contenders are lining up to potentially challenge the twice-impeached former president, but the former chairman of the Republican National Committee told "Morning Joe" that Trump still wields control over the GOP base.
"He may be slowing politically but he still has the ability to maneuver inside the ring," Steele said, drawing a boxing analogy. "He is still the guy that they're going to have to go through to the nomination. and that's going to require pulling together a number of things, so in the clip where Gov. [Nikki] Haley is talking about, 'Am I that person,' the people who get to decide is the base of Republican Party. I don't see a lot of people jumping up and down and saying, 'Nikki run.' I don't see people saying, 'DeSantis run,' except the business class of the GOP."
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"Now, the folks in coach have a whole different point of view about where this plane is ultimately going to go, and they know that at the end of the day, the pilot is on their side, and so I think people need to slow their roll a little bit here," he continued. "Wait until Trump gets in the ring again, and actually engages. Trump is not engaged with anybody. All he has done is announced, 'Yeah, I'm running for president.' He hasn't engaged on any level with anyone, so until we see that, you have nailed the exact space we're in here."
"You all need to calm it down, see what he does, because whether or not these folks can take a punch from him decides how far they go in this election cycle," Steele added.
Watch the segment below or at this link.
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