MSNBC host and former RNC chair Michael Steele praised Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., encouraging her to "bring that resistance" as she speaks to people across the country who are frustrated by the Trump administration.
Steele spoke on Saturday’s episode of MSNBC’s "The Weekend" to highlight how Jayapal has been drawing large crowds to town halls in her state about voters' concerns with federal funding cuts. He also noted how "the congresswoman has also kicked off a program she’s calling The Resistance Lab, a series of sessions aimed at turning the anger of those constituents into action."
"That's what I'm talking about," Steele cheered, encouraging the progressive lawmaker to "bring that resistance!"
Co-host Symone Sanders-Townsend played a clip of a constituent at one of these town halls becoming emotional talking about the impact of the Trump administration.
"We are literally starting to stock tissue boxes at our town halls because people get up, and they talk about what is happening to them and their families and their peers, but they also talk about, as this constituent did, what it means for the country," Jayapal said.
Former RNC chair Michael Steele argued that while he still sees himself as a Republican, he agrees with Jayapal on a core issue that transcends partisan politics.
The congresswoman claimed she had recently been pulled aside by a flight attendant who asked, "’When did America become so cruel?’"
While she said America has a long history of cruelty, she argued that there was at least an idea that Americans are striving to create "a more perfect union." Now, however, she argues, America is on a different trajectory.
"I think what we’re seeing now is people worry that the rate of destruction of these agencies and the way it’s being done is devastating not only people, but our entire ability to function as a country," she said. "These are critical programs and the whole goal here is power, to be able to unilaterally slash and burn so that a very tiny group of people at the top are able to get even richer and richer and everybody else is down and literally destroyed in terms of their families."
While Steele is a frequent critic of the Republican Party, he emphasized that he is "still a Republican," before explaining how he and Jayapal have a common purpose.
"Here’s where you and I are aligned, and I think it’s important for America to know what this moment requires from each of us," he said. "This idea that we have in front of us a threat, a direct threat to our liberties, to our sense and appreciation of freedom, and more importantly the fundamental constitutional idea that every one of us, you and me, despite our policy disagreements, are still Americans. We’re still protected by this wonderful Constitution that the framers didn’t include you or me in. Right? But we now own it."
Ex-Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele found himself trending on social media after bashing Trump supporters for continuing to stand by the president. ((William B. Plowman/NBC/Getty Images))
The former RNC chair argued further that supporting resistance now transcends partisan political debates about policy.
"So I appreciate the storylines that you’re leveling up about resistance to this idea that you and me are not worthy to be Americans," he said, going on to praise her for a recent quote she said about refuting to roll over. "You know, this isn’t resistance because ‘I don’t like you - I don’t like where you stand on healthcare’ or resistance, ‘because I don’t like where you stand on taxes.’ This is resistance because we don’t like what Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Pam Bondi and Pete Hegseth are doing to our country."