”The GOP Was Having a Field Day for Literal Years Over Hillary’s Emails”: Former Republican National Committee Chair Insists Trump Be Thrown in Jail

Michelle HollandNov 24, 2023

Minute Read

Michael Steele, who used to serve as the chair of the Republican National Committee, has announced that it is finally time for Trump to be imprisoned after the former president reposted a threat calling for the arrest of Judge Arthur Engoron and Attorney General Letitia James. Engoron is overseeing Trump’s business fraud trial in New York, whereas James is the prosecutor who is hoping to see him face punishment for deceiving banks.

The Business Fraud Case

Trump is currently on trial, alongside his children and companies, for business fraud in the state of New York. James alleges that he misrepresented his net worth and overstated the value of his properties in order to obtain bigger loans from banks. An initial summary verdict from Engoron has already found Trump liable for fraud.

Trump’s Truth Social

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Trump has used his social media platform Truth Social, established last year, to deliver commentary on the trial. After wrongly dubbing Engoron’s law clerk as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) girlfriend, he was issued a gag order, but this has since been suspended pending appeal.

Steele’s Message for Trump

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Trump has frequently used Truth Social to issue attacks on Engoron and James. Responding to the latest incident, exx-RNC Chair Michael Steele bluntly insisted: “Put his a– in jail.” His complete statement said, “It’s enormously dangerous. I just — I’m shocked that we have allowed this to get this far.”

Demanding Imprisonment

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He continued, “I’m just going to use my best analysis that I can give you at this point on this situation with Trump, and the attacks on the judges: put his a– in jail. That’s how you end it. That’s how it stops.”

Leeway for Trump

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He also noted that “people will be mad, they will be upset. But there is no other person on this planet, certainly not in this country, who would be given the kind of grace that Donald Trump has been given to run his mouth the way he has.”

Constant Attacks

Steele added, “Attacking the clerks, attacking the judges, attacking the prosecutors, personally, threatening them. We’ve shown the evidence when he does how his base responds. And so the system is getting pulverized from within by Trump, and is being pressed to the umpteenth corner that it can go in trying to appease him, and allow him to be free while he is still behaving this way.”

Shutting Trump Down

Steele concluded that “if he wants to continue in this vein, then use the system the way the system would be used against all of us right now. Because you know damn well, any one of us, if we said half of what he said, we would not be on air tonight. We would be in a jail cell. We would be shut down.”

Trump’s Legal Battles

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Although Trump cannot go to prison as a result of his civil trial in New York, he is also embroiled in four criminal cases. Two of these are federal indictments for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his concealing of classified documents on his Mar-a-Lago resort. The other two criminal cases pertain to election tampering in Georgia and Stormy Daniel’s hush money.

Maintaining Popularity

Despite this, Trump remains the frontrunner to earn the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, holding a significant lead over his competitors. He remains popular among GOP voters as well as House Republicans in particular, many of whom actively promote his election denial conspiracy theory.

The Internet Reacts

People online responded to Steele’s comments, with some forum users criticizing him for only taking issue with Trump and not the institutional issues within the party. “Michael Steele, the guy who promoted Sarah Palin, now jumps on the never-Trump bandwagon,” one commenter wrote. “Trump better represents what the GOP is and what it always has been.”

Criminal Behavior

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Despite this, many users still agreed with Steele’s sentiment. One poster declared: “Trump deserves many life-in-prisons. Complete and utter criminal,” whereas another concurred that Trump is “also an in general awful person.”

Just as Bad

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Another person responded to the suggestion that Trump deserves life in prison with “most of the Republican party does. Trump hardly acted alone in the attempted coup,” referring to January 6, 2021, when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overthrow the new Biden administration.

Republican Hypocrisy

Another person noted the hypocrisy of Republicans for demanding the imprisonment of Hillary Clinton and making “lock her up” a popular slogan during the 2016 election, but now keeping silent on Trump. High-profile current party members have rarely spoken out against him and many have endorsed his bid for reelection.

The Current GOP

Several people expressed frustration at the GOP’s silence. “Another ex-whatever calling out Trump, yay,” one critic stated. “When will the current-whatevers start calling it out?”

Hillary Clinton’s Emails

The commenter said, “The GOP was having a field day for literal years over Hillary’s emails… when it comes to Trump being caught red-handed on several accounts, on several different occasions, it’s crickets.”

Trump’s Privilege

Another person observed, “If Trump was a person of color, he’d be in solitary right now without internet access and without visitation rights.” Someone else agreed that “if Trump was anything but rich he’d be in jail,” whereas one individual speculated that “if Trump was a POC he’d have never gotten as far as he has.”

Steele’s Responsibility

Others blamed Steele for not wielding his power for good while he was still a powerful figure in the Republican Party. “You had your chance to help curb this right-wing BS when you were chair. Instead, you helped push the birther cr– and stoked the flames of xenophobia and fear-mongering,” one poster declared.

Defending Steele

There was, however, some defense for Steele, with one contributor noting that he “was never supportive of Trump” and was “removed as RNC chair and was outcast from the party years before Trump was even considered a potential nominee.” Steele held the position of chair from 2009 to 2011.