Michael Steele: ‘No doubt’ GOP represents one of the world’s largest anti-democracy forces

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Monday agreed with the assertion that the GOP is “one of the largest anti-democratic movements in the world.”

During an appearance on MSNBC’s show “Deadline: White House,” host Nicolle Wallace brought up a clip of Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) standing by his vote challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Banks was one of several Republicans who voted to challenge the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, when both the House and Senate met to certify the election results. However, the day was interrupted when a mob of former President Trump’s supporters breached the Capitol and ransacked lawmakers’ offices, attacked Capitol Police and forced members of Congress to hide in undisclosed locations. 

Banks was also one of several Republicans to join a Texas lawsuit that made its way to the Supreme Court challenging the 2020 election results. However, the high court would not hear the case. 

Wallace asked Steele, a member of the anti-Trump group The Lincoln Project, if after viewing the clip he believed that the Republican Party was one of the largest movements against democracy in the world. 

“Part of me wants to ask you who’s going to tell him and other part of me wants to ask you if the Republicans now represent one of the largest, in terms of numbers, anti-democratic movements in the world.”

Steele responded that there was “no doubt about that.”

“We’re streaming headlong into that truth about who Republicans are and how they see themselves right now,” Steele said. “It’s just another, you know, degree of stupid that we’re asked to buy.”

The news come as Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the No. 3 House Republican, faces efforts to oust her from leadership. Cheney has garnered intense backlash from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), among others, for speaking out against Trump and asserting that the 2020 election was not stolen from the former president by widespread voter fraud. 

Steele, who endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, said that there were a number of ways that Republicans could be made to care about democracy. 

“One is what do good citizens out there deicide to do? How do they stand up and respond? And to that I say stay tuned because there are responses coming in the wake of what we see happen on Wednesday,” Steele said, referring to the day Republicans are poised to vote on Cheney’s status as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference

Steele said the recent rise in GOP-led action to challenge elections or limit voter access is in preparation for upcoming elections, when “Republicans know their backs are going to be up against the wall.”

“That’s where you have to overwhelm the system with your legitimate vote. Because at the end of the day, the numbers don’t lie,” Steele said.

A number of state legislatures have introduced or passed bills across the country that would tighten voting restrictions for mail-in votes, polling stations and identification requirements. 

Democrats and voting rights activists have largely panned this type of legislation as voter suppression.