Former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele on Tuesday explained how former President Donald Trump used a well-worn page from his playbook to punk everyone over his expected arrest.
Trump on Saturday announced he’d be charged Tuesday in the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into hush money payments allegedly paid to silence porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Steele, standing in for Chris Hayes as guest host on MSNBC’s “All In” on Tuesday, noted that the day came and went without Trump being hauled in.
“But we really shouldn’t be surprised, should we?” he asked. “It’s what Trump does. He punks everybody.”
“What we saw this weekend was Trump once again trying to frame the narrative before it could unfold,” explained Steele. “The ex-president was setting the tone and the outcome on his terms. So, by the time the real story comes out, well, everyone is playing catch-up.”
Following Trump’s arrest claim, people were “all following his lead instead of waiting for the Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to set the facts straight,” Steele continued. “Did the DA’s office tell us? No. Trump did. He figured that, ‘Yeah, just make it up … Put it out there and everyone is going to feed off of it for a few days.’”
The point, Steele said, is that “if and when he actually gets indicted, all of his supporters will be fired up and ready to go, and everyone who in his version of events colluded against him to make the indictment happen, well, guess what? They’re going to be on the defensive about it.”
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