Ex-RNC Chair Michael Steele Warns GOP On Trump's Emergency: You Will Rue This

He said Republicans will have "no credence, no authority" to block future national emergencies by a Democratic president.
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Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele is calling out his own party for enabling President Donald Trump’s reported plan to declare a national emergency to get funding for his border wall.

“At the end of the day, this is something Republicans will rue,” Steele said on MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” on Thursday.

Steele warned that once Trump declares an emergency to get funding for his wall, a future Democratic president will be able to do the same for any number of other issues.

“If any aspect of this is allowed to stand, they have no credence, no authority to criticize any Democratic president who stands up and says, ‘There’s a national emergency on guns and I’m hereby limiting the sale of future arms in this country,’” he said.

Indeed, later in the day, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hinted at exactly that.

You want to talk about a national emergency?” she said. “Let’s talk about today, the one-year anniversary of another manifestation of the epidemic of gun violence in America. That’s a national emergency.”

NBC News political correspondent Heidi Przybyla also pointed out that Republicans frequently criticized former President Barack Obama for his use of executive orders.

“This is that on steroids,” she said. “This couldn’t even pass the Fox News test. You had commentators on Fox News warning the president against doing this.”

Steele also slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for “taking his 30 pieces of silver” ― a reference to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus Christ ― in supporting Trump’s declaration.

The full discussion was posted online by Raw Story:

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