Ex-RNC head blasts Republicans defending shutdown: ‘So clueless. So out of touch’

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Thursday ripped Republicans for defending the ongoing government shutdown, saying they are “so clueless” and “so out of touch.”

In an appearance on MSNBC, Steele responded to a clip of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross saying “I don’t really quite understand why” furloughed federal workers are using food banks instead of taking out loans, saying comments like those are “offensive” to the federal workers not receiving a paycheck.

{mosads}“I am looking at them sitting in their fine outfits and their jewelry and saying it’s a little bit of pain,” Steele said of GOP members that defend the shutdown. “So clueless. So out of touch. So unconcerned. I mean, the false concern is more galling. Just tell me you don’t care than to sit there and pretend you do because that is more offensive to these families.”

Steele, who is a frequent critic of President Trump, compared Ross’s comments to the famous quote “let them eat cake” from Marie Antoinette. Ross has a net worth of an estimated $700 million, 

Antoinette made the infamous remark during the French Revolution in response to learning that people were starving.

Steele’s comments come just days after Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump,  said during an interview that the shutdown “is so much bigger than any one person.” 

“You want to break a man, take away his livelihood,” Steele said. “You want to break up a family, take away the means to protect your children, to feed them, to give them an education, cause that is exactly what this administration is doing right now.”

The government shutdown is currently in its second month as Trump has refused to sign any funding measures that do not include more than $5 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats have offered $1.3 billion for border security measures.

Steele said earlier this week that the blame for the shutdown “rests at the feet of the GOP.”