Former RNC Chair Michael Steele Bashed at CPAC, Not Invited to GOP’s ‘Black Republican Trailblazers’ Award Dinner

It was a party atmosphere in Richmond on Election Night 2009 when Virginia Republicans swept the top three spots — Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General — led by Bob McDonnell under the watchful eye of Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele.

That afternoon friend Barb and I drove over from Staunton and arrived early at Richmond’s Marriott Hotel so I could cover the event. After picking up my press credentials, we wandered into the ballroom that was ready for what the GOP hoped would be a victory party, occupied at that time of day only by press setting up TV cameras and laptops in the media area as they prepped for the night. With only two gubernatorial races in the country, both seen as referendums on Barack Obama just a year after he became president, the national press was out in full force to cover the results in Virginia and New Jersey.

Setting up my laptop on the front row of tables between Kyle Trygstad with Real Clear Politics and Krystle Weeks (now Gabele) who was reporting for Bearing Drift, we waited. As the polls closed, the room began to fill with hopeful McDonnell supporters, Republicans from all over the Commonwealth, as music blared, laughter rang across the room, and familiar faces drifted in the door.

And then, right there in the midst of the media area, was Michael Steele who was making his way through the crowd with a big smile on his face, greeting everyone and shaking hands as he headed toward the TV cameras for interviews with national networks. I stood and, as he passed, shook hands and thanked him for his leadership.

The thing that strikes me looking back on that night was that he was friendly with everyone in the press area. He had no way of knowing I was a Republican Party leader — a state central member and in leadership at the local level. He was not hostile toward any press members. That night Steele was a GOP goodwill ambassador in RVA to lend support to and watch as Bob McDonnell led the GOP to a glorious sweeping win for the Republican Party.

With the RNC Chairman in the house and the Black Eyed Peas’ “Tonight’s Gonna Be A Good Night” playing in the background, the crowd let out a deafening cheer at the announcement that Bob McDonnell had won. Steele joined prominent state Republicans on stage to celebrate the win. In New Jersey, Chris Cristie was celebrating his win for Republican governor in that blue state. It was a good beginning for Steele’s remarkable term that lasted from 2009-11.

Fast forward to the CPAC conference in D.C. ten days ago when Steele’s reputation was disparaged at the so-called conservative gathering by its communications director,  Ian Walters, who stood on the stage and announced to the audience that Steele was only elected RNC chairman because “he was a black guy.”

Where to begin? It was an incredulously obtuse statement made about the former RNC chairman who oversaw the most successful legislative run for Congress when the GOP was still a more inclusive party. Sadly, the party of Trump has made the GOP no longer recognizable for many Republicans, a fact numerous members want to sweep under the rug in an attempt at party loyalty.

I think it’s fair to say Ian Michaels’ comment broadsided Steele, who had shown he could pull bipartisan support when elected Lieutenant Governor in the blue state of Maryland. Steele has said the RNC chairman has two jobs: raise money and win elections. He did both well.

The day after the comment was made at CPAC, Steele invited Matt Schlaap, chairman of the American Conservative Union, onto his SiriusXM radio show (see video above). Schlaap refused to defend Steele, and instead defended Walters’ comment. Schlapp basically suggested that Steele deserved it for daring to criticize Donald Trump.

Those who are quick to tout Reagan’s 11th Commandment conveniently overlook these kinds of incidents.

I think it’s worth noting that Schlapp’s wife works at the White House.

Since then Schlapp showed up on TV and doubled down, basically trying to destroy Michael Steele’s reputation and his work as chairman of RNC. Here is the link to Schlaap’s Thursday appearance with Hallie Jackson on MSNBC (link to video here). At the 5:00 point he begins discussing the Michael Steele issue when asked if Ian Michaels should leave CPAC, and Schlapp shoots back, “Absolutely not.”

Hallie Jackson then asked if Michael Steele was a good RNC chairman and Schlaap’s response was, quite frankly, stunning. “Almost every Republican,” he said, “who works in Republican politics agrees that he was a sub-par chairman.”

Jackson responded, “He led the GOP to 63 seats in 2010,” to which Schlaap broke in and asked, “So now you’re going to defend him?”

“Why did you think he was a sub-par chairman?” she persisted. “And what does it have to do with his race?”

Schlapp’s response was less than gracious. “Barack Obama won the presidency and after Obama governed as a liberal, the whole country reacted because they had thought maybe he was going to be more centrist.”

“So you’re saying it was more of a culturist moment and not a Michael Steele moment?” asked Jackson.

“I’m saying,” Schlapp insisted, “Barack Obama helped the Republican Party raise a heck of a lot of money because his policies were so unpopular. Michael Steele was deposed by his own advisory in Reince Priebus who went on to serve almost a decade. He had to clean up the messes of Michael Steele.”

Wow. I am still stunned at that exchange and the ungraciousness of Schlapp who has dispatched himself to spread the criticism of Michael Steele. Which brings me to Reince Priebus, the Judas to Steele’s Caesar.

Here’s a reminder from that backstabbing episode when Priebus was appointed by Steele as RNC counsel only to betray Steele in January 2011, an episode I wrote about at the time:

Politics is synonymous with betrayal and treachery. After last week’s RNC chairman election, Michael Steele knows the sting of betrayal. According to FrumForum:

… things get serious real quick when he’s asked about Reince Priebus. Steele had appointed Priebus to a coveted job on the RNC: general counsel. Priebus later turned his back on Steele when he decided to make his own bid for the Chairmanship.

“I know exactly how Caesar felt,” Steele says, without a hint of irony. “It is what it is.” He claims that Priebus had been planning to defect for six, seven, eight months before announcing a bid for the chairmanship.

Steele was blindsided. “I trust my friends. Well, I guess the adage is right. In Washington, you should get a dog… We put a lot of resources in Wisconsin over the last two years… that’s what you do for [the] team.”

That sting of betrayal has certainly been felt by many. … Politics has a way of bringing out the best — or the worst — in people.

In the end the old adage “what goes around, comes around” turned out to be true for Priebus when he was betrayed by Trump himself. The president removed Priebus from his chief of staff White House position in a quick car switch at the airport that left Priebus shunned from the motorcade and out of a job as the others drove away. By not vetting the candidacy of Trump, Priebus left the Republican Party with a candidate who has caused the continuous chaos.

Basically, according to Matt Schlapp, Michael Steele deserves to have his reputation tarnished because he was critical of Trump. In Schlapp’s world, anyone who does not walk lock-step with Trump is at blame. That, Steele said, was the moment when it was obvious Schlapp had not only drunk the Kool-Aid but plunged the IV of Trumpism into his arm. It’s the continued Trumpification of the party.

Not everyone has fallen under the Trump spell. On Friday Matthew Dowd, political consultant and chief strategist for the 2004 Bush-Cheney presidential re-election campaign, tweeted:

I know both of these men fairly well. I would take Steele over Schlapp in a foxhole any day of the week. https://t.co/IMxQmVMiky

— Matthew Dowd (@matthewjdowd) March 2, 2018

Better make that foxhole bigger, Matt Dowd, because the numbers are growing. They are not #nevertrumpers. They are conservatives and moderates who have serious questions about this administration.

Unfortunately, Matt Schlapp appears to be voicing the feelings of the national Republican Party who — imagine this — did not invite their own first black chairman, their only black chairman, to the “Black Republican Trailblazer Awards” dinner held last week, reportedly because they “forgot.”

Michael Steele told Newsweek:

“It is true, I did not receive an invitation but had no expectation of receiving one as I was unaware of the event occurring,” Steele told Newsweek of the Black Republican Trailblazer Awards held Monday.

He received a phone call from the current RNC chair expressing regret at the “mistake.” However, it seems obvious Michael Steele is being shunned by his own party because he has been critical of Donald Trump.

All this comes on the heels of the so-called 2013 Republican “Autopsy,” a report commissioned after GOP presidential losses in 2008 and 2012, that pointed out the need to reach minority groups, women, and young people. Five years later the autopsy report has been smashed to smithereens as minorities, women, and young people are even more alienated from the party. The fact the GOP has also alienated Michael Steele does not appear to faze those in leadership. Just count the number who have jumped to his defense.

Lines are being drawn in the sand as the battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party continues.