Steve Schmidt: "Today I renounce my membership in the Republican Party."

[greyl]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[lunamagica]

1. FINALLY!!! Now, let's hear from Nicole Wallace and Ana Navarro

[Cha]

14. My first thought after Wow!.. Nicole! It's not

even a "republican" party anymore.. it's the party of Fraud and his Doormats

[imanamerican63]

34. Nicole has left their party.

She has stated several times that she is more of an Independent. I'm not sure if she has registered as one?

[DeminPennswoods]

43. She's called herself a "non-practicing" republican

but I don't think she's changed her party registration.

[pbmus]

2. Hope this isn't just gentlemen jack talking....

[chillfactor]

3. Thank you Steve!

Considering the republican party has become the tRump party with cowardly repugs….you made an educated switch.

[lindysalsagal]

4. Never heard of him.

[radical noodle]

9. One of the most articulate

speakers in the GOP. A true country over party guy... I think trump woke him up to the true nature of Republicans these days.

[LeftInTX]

10. I think he ran John McCain's campaign.

He's been featured on DU alot.

He would complain about the Tea Party and he's really been complaining about Trump. It doesn't surprise me.

[True Blue American]

29. An MSNBCfixture

Especially on the Nicole Wallace show. She said he was her friend.

Now we have Richard Painter became a Democrat,Running for Al Franken’s old seat.

The list of Republicans speaking out grows longer each day.

[MgtPA]

33. Woody Harrelson played Steve Schmidt in the movie Game Change

[JI7]

12. tells the truth about Trump and doesn't normalize him like so many others do

[tblue37]

35. The man who ran McCain's campaign & recruited Sarah Palin. He finally realized

what a disaster she is and eventually admitted publicly how much he and his helper, Nicolle Wallace, regretted bringing Palin to national prominence.

Watch the HBO movie Game Change about it.

[JI7]

5. more people should speak about Trump the way he does

[lunatica]

6. Welcome home Steve.

It’s good to see you finally saw the light.

[onetexan]

7. Ditto

[JI7]

13. yeah, but to be fair he did see it earlier and has been calling it out

[lunatica]

17. He hasn't made any bones about how he feels

He’s someone I believe when he says something. An honest man. He belong in the Democratic Party for that alone. Plus he’s a decent man and an excellent pundit. He knows his subject.

[radical noodle]

8. He obviously has more integrity

than many in the GOP. This is why our party must remain a party of decency and truth. People need a place to go when they divorce the trump party.

[Rhiannon12866]

11. A few weeks ago, I happened to turn on MSNBC in the afternoon, Nicolle Wallace was on

And I heard Steve Schmidt give the best anti Trump rant that I'd ever heard - thus far. So this isn't surprising. We need lots more people of conscience to get on board.

[True Blue American]

30. Nicole is one show

I try not to miss.in the GW Bush Administration. Boy, how she has changed.

[Rhiannon12866]

32. I often tune in, she often has good guests - and she is also quite outspoken against Trump!

She said that what changed her was when Sarah Palin got the Republican nomination for VP. She said that was totally unacceptable to her and she didn't vote Republican then - or since.

[True Blue American]

49. Nicole

And Steve are good friends. She has him on and turns him loose!

I am also a fan of Donny Deutsch ,another Nicole friend.

[TwistedTinkerbelle]

15. Bravo!

Well done!

[calimary]

16. What the hell took you so long, dude?

[lunatica]

19. A divorce is a real difficult thing

Not a decision to make lightly or quickly.

But speaking from experience once the decision is made it can’t happen fast enough!

[DFW]

21. Not entirely the right question. He has been leaning this way ever since McCain lost

He was running McCain's 2008 campaign, but was horrified at the choice of Palin for VP. That was the spark that lit a slow-burning fire under him. He never accepted the teabaggers, and as Trump headed toward securing the 2016 Republican nomination, he said flat out numerous times on TV that Hillary would win the 2016 election (he wasn't wrong there), and that his party had derailed completely.

I think this was only a question of time. After 30 years as a Republican, it wasn't an easy move to make. I think the government-sponsored child abuse pushed him over the edge. With this, he no longer had any hope that his party would return to sanity any time within the foreseeable future. As a frequently quoted top Republican, I think the question "how, as a Republican, can you justify this?" eventually just became unanswerable. He woke up one day and realized he no longer could. He has finally said so publicly.

[tblue37]

36. He is the one who chose Palin, and he assigned Wallace to coach her. Both Schmidt & Wallace

have publicly said they deeply regret bringing Palin to national prominence.

[DFW]

38. Probably his worst lapse in judgement ever

But McCain just wouldn't make the choice on his own, and Schmidt made the choice as a desperation move. For all I know, he picked names out of a hat. He was still horrified at what became of it, and I think that gave him his first insight of what was to become of his party.

[tblue37]

39. He was searching for a female candidate, thinking they needed a woman on the ticket

to run against Hillary. At the time he was too focused on winning, not on properly vetting the candidate.

[DFW]

40. But at that point, the Democratic nominee was clearly Obama n/t

[tblue37]

44. Sorry, I misspoke. I meant to run against Obama. Since we had a "game changer," they needed one of

their own. In fact, the book and movie about the R campaign's choice of Palin is called Game Change.

[BannonsLiver]

53. That's not entirely accurate

If you've read or seen Game Change it's pretty clear that Rick Davis was the one who initially discovered Palin, on a YouTube video. It's a common misconception around here that it was Schmidt, which is amazing because I only have to assume there are folks who have either seen the movie or read the book. And even if it were Schmidt that discovered Palin, I think we all know who had final approval on her place on the ticket, and it sure wasn't Steve Schmidt.

[True Blue American]

50. Republicans simply wanted a woman.

They could not have picked a worse choice. I think they went on looks.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

51. At the time they were trying to find a running mate who would

give the McCain campaign a little pizzazz - McCain was viewed by many GOPers as too old and not conservative enough, so they were casting about for someone younger and more hard-core as his running mate. McCain was considering Tim Pawlenty, at the time our loathsome governor, who has a pleasant, folksy demeanor but is as mean as a snake. He was conservative enough but he makes watching paint dry seem like a rock concert. So somebody (it might have been Bill Kristol) came up with the idea of dragging this unknown, "hot" governor out of Alaska, and they got all excited because she checked the right boxes: Young, good-looking, a mother, a governor, a bit to the right of Darth Vader politically. But they didn't check to find out if she knew anything about how the federal government worked or, for that matter, whether she had any actual brains. But by the time they discovered she was a grifter and a diva with the intelligence of a pigeon it was too late.

[JI7]

24. this is just a formality . he has actually been outspoken and much more critical for a long time now

[SunSeeker]

18. Internment camps for babies was the last straw for Schmidt.

Welcome to the light, Steve.

[ButSeeYa]

20. Welcome home, Steve.

[videohead5]

22. Nicole Wallace

Didn't she leave the Republican party a some time ago?..I guess she has not joined the Democrats yet?..I know she's pro-choice.

[RandomAccess]

58. She considers herself an Independent

[xxqqqzme]

23. I wondered when

he would switch. Glad to have his voice and insight.

[Silver Gaia]

25. This is welcome news!

It's time and Steve knows it. May his decision be like tapping a domino, pulling a card from a house made of them, or setting flame to well-dried tinder... it's time.

[oasis]

26. He'll VOTE to elect Democrats. No third party or staying at home.

I'll have to check out Mika and Joe this a.m. they are certain to turn him loose on Trump.

[OnDoutside]

27. It's been a journey for Steve, and perhaps his courage will make it easier for others.

[vercetti2021]

28. Finally he leaves the dark side

I welcome him to our party, hopefully more sane Republicans follow suit. Wallace, Navarro...etc.

[Hamlette]

31. I've known a few who have left the GOP. They turned it to active, vocal, raging liberals.

My father left the GOP because of Reagan who he thought was reckless about nukes. He became as liberal, and outspoken, as they come.

[Achilleaze]

37. "Today the GOP has become a danger to our democracy and values."

True - the republicans are a clear and present danger to America.

[duforsure]

41. Republican Senators now need to

Break away from whats left of this party that supports such horrific policies against humanity, and switch to the Democrats side to retake control of the Senate now, and away from McConnell , who's become a tool of trump's. Vote against their immigration bills, and make trump stop his policy. All of Congress should tell trump no legislation will be introduced until he reverses his policy, no exceptions. If they give him anything they should be voted out of office. The American people should vote out of office all republicans or the country will lose its Democracy for good. Congress should have a zero policy against trump , and stop this inhumane and cruel policy designed to intentionally hurt and damage children forever.

[DeminPennswoods]

45. Sadly, most Republican senators agree with Trump's

social and economic agenda.

[ArnoldLayne]

42. Kick

[DeminPennswoods]

46. Scarborough switched his registration to I

awhile ago, too, iirc.

[True Blue American]

55. Too little,too late on Scarborough

Joe and Mika were the main culprits in giving Trump air time every day to their Dear Friend, Donald.

When other stations stopped allowing him to call in every day,they allowed him to.

[anarch]

47. good. I hope now he encourages anyone he can influence to vote a straight Democratic ticket

if we make it to November...anyone with any human decency should vote straight Dem, right on down the ballot.

[Progressive dog]

48. Thank you Steve

nt

[True Blue American]

52. Here is another.

http://www.chicagonow.com/politics-now/2018/06/trump-screwed-himself-by-being-cruel-to-children/

[awesomerwb1]

54. Welcome Steve to the good side

You're doing the only obvious and decent thing. What the F took you so long??

[Garrett78]

56. Still selling the silly notion that the Republican Party of 1854 is the same...

...as the Republican Party he supported until just recently.

As if pre-Trump Republicans, including McCain, weren't constantly pushing horrific policy. As if the Southern Strategy/dog whistling, race-based voter suppression, race-based gerrymandering, xenophobia, gun-loving culture and more didn't make the rise of Trump or someone like him all but inevitable.

[DAMANgoldberg]

57. IMHO

The Republican party of 1854 ended in 1960 after Eisenhower term-limited. Had we not had term limits, Obama would still be President.