Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele said in a video released Tuesday that the 2020 presidential election is a choice between “America or Trump” and that he is choosing America and presidential candidate Joe Biden.
“This ballot is how we restore the soul of our nation,” Steele stated in a Lincoln Project ad promoting Biden’s candidacy. He suggested Americans have a clear choice between “electing a good man, Joe Biden, and a trailblazer, [California Sen.] Kamala Harris and ensure an orderly transfer of power, or plunge our country into chaos. America or Trump? I choose America.”
While calling himself “a life-long Republican” who is “still a Republican,” Steele painted a grim picture of the Nov. 3 vote and suggested the stakes are as high as when Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860. (RELATED: George Conway-Advised Lincoln Project Releases Video Claiming That Donald Trump Might Literally Destroy America)
Steele noted that Lincoln was surrounded by hostility and secessionist forces ready “to plunge the nation into chaos” as he proceeded to Washington for his inauguration and “on to greatness.”
“In the days ahead, we may face a crisis of similar proportion,” said Steele, as he warned that Trump could be “an outlaw president clinging to power and defying the will of the people.” The former RNC boss noted that Americans are living in a special “moment” in time “because this ballot is like none ever cast.”
The Lincoln Project is an organization composed of Republicans who are dedicated to defeating “Trump and Trumpism,” as its website states. Its founding members include George Conway, husband of Trump confidant Kellyanne Conway, and Rick Wilson, a Republican political strategist. (RELATED: Trump’s Former DHS Chief Of Staff Endorses Biden)
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden waits to participate in a Town Hall format meeting with ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center Oct. 15, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Steele has been an staunch opponent of Trump, saying the president has hijacked the Republican Party.
After Trump’s speech at 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Steele told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that “what has manifested at CPAC is a new form of idolatry. Donald Trump is the new golden calf.”