The Lincoln Project: Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele Joins Anti-Trump Group

“Today is the day when things should matter and you need to take stock of what matters to you – and what kind of leader you want to lead in these times. And to me, it’s not him, ”Steele, a politician An MSNBC analyst said he announced the welcome of Nicole Wallace on Monday afternoon.

Steele was the first African American to be elected to the Maryland national office, serving as lieutenant governor from 2003 to 2007. He was also the first African American to be president of the RNC.

“I get my role as former national president. I get it, but I’m American. I get my role as former party leader. I’m still American,” Steele told Wallace, adding, “And these things matters more to me than aligning myself with a party that has clearly decided it will be more of a sycophant than of principle. ”

Since stepping down as RNC chairman in 2011, Steele has become one of Trump’s most prominent Republican critics.

When Trump expressed his frustration behind closed doors with people coming to the United States from a “shitty country,” Steele called him racist. In April, he said: “America in some ways has been abused by this president.” And in June, he claimed Trump didn’t believe in American ideals.

Rick Wilson, a political strategist who co-founded the Lincoln Project, said in a statement that Steele is “a singularly insightful and effective political leader” with “a remarkable record of electoral success (.)”

“In the two decades that I have known Michael Steele, he has never been afraid to speak the truth in power. As a former president of the RNC, Michael’s decision to join the Lincoln Project’s efforts to oust Trump and his enablers is a big deal, “Tara Setmayer, a senior Lincoln Project adviser and CNN contributor said in a statement. “He truly is the ‘country over party’ personified. Michael’s invaluable experience and his brand of saying it’s politics will fit right into this pirate ship. Welcome aboard.”

The group has produced a series of scorching ads, ranging from criticizing Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic to attacking Republican senators who have backed the president. The ads drew an angry rebuke from Trump, who called the group the “Losers Project” and called its Republican founders by name only.

News of Steele’s arrival at Project Lincoln on Monday comes as Republicans gather for the first day of the Republican National Convention. More than two dozen former Republican lawmakers also announced on Monday that they supported Joe Biden for the presidency.

Steele’s job announcement also comes a day after George Conway, a prominent Conservative lawyer who co-founded the Lincoln Project, and his wife, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, said they would quit their jobs to focus on their family.

CNN’s Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.