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- [00:00]
Michael Steele
You have one thing in front of you, and to be honest, nothing else matters, and that is this November. And every step along the way through every damn primary, overwhelm the ballot with your vote. Our system, folks, is 50 Independent Electoral Systems. It is not a federal system. It is not. And it cannot be federalized, no matter how much Donald Trump and others try to. And the one anecdote to every effort is your vote. They can't cheat when you overwhelm the ballot with your vote.
- [00:49]
Lee McGowan
Hello, and welcome to the Politics Girl Podcast. I'm your host, Lee McGowan. Let's get into it. So, some episodes we take deep dives into specific issues. Some are calls to action, with groups out in the field doing the hard work of democracy, and. And some are just answering the question, what the hell is going on? And how do I make sense of this? I think any of us paying attention right now know America is completely off the rails. We're at war in the Middle East. We're being attacked at home by ice. Everything is more expensive, from our groceries to our health care. Our government is calling protesters terrorists and terrorists allies. We're killing people in custody. Women are losing their rights. Our elections are in danger, and the Trump administration is threatening to pull any of the broadcast licenses of news organizations who report anything he doesn't like. It's literal chaos. And in many ways, being aware these days feels like an attack. It's incredibly dysregulating, which is why our guest, Michael Steele, is such a breath of fresh air when he challenges the status quo and he asks us and the leaders he interviews on his Ms. Now show the weekend and on his podcast, what the hell is going on here and what do we plan to do about it? If you don't know Michael Steele, he is the former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, the. The former chair of the rnc, who, in the days before Trump, was breaking fundraising records and winning the biggest pickup of house seats for his party in modern American history. Now he is a political commentator, host of the Michael Steele Podcast, and spends his weekends on TV telling it like it is on Ms. Now. So, without further ado, please welcome my guest, former chair of the rnc, host of the Michael Steele Podcast, and co host of Ms. Now's the Weeknd.
- [02:22]
Leigh McGowan
Michael Steele, thank you for being here, my friend.
- [02:24]
Michael Steele
Oh, hello. How are you doing, Lee? Folks, I was slathering Lee up before we came on. I. Maybe I should rephrase that. Lee and I were having a conversation before we came on. I just. I just love so much of what she does literally brings the kitchen to us because that's where a lot of us are having these very difficult, crazy conversations. And it's just nice to have a clarion voice, a clear voice out there.
- [02:51]
Leigh McGowan
Well, thanks for saying that. It's so nice to be back with you, and I really appreciate you saying that, because I think there are so many of us out here, whether it's in our own kitchens or our own homes or our own lives, saying, like, what are we looking at? What are we. What's going on? Like, what. What is happening? And it makes us feel very powerless because we see the people that are supposed to be in charge just absolutely abdicating their responsibility. And it makes those of us at home who counted on institutions, who counted on the government doing the right thing, who counted on America being the good guy in the world just floundering. And it's a really hard experience for people right now who are paying attention and who care about the world. And I think, you know, the more we can give a voice to those people, because they aren't getting a voice right now, the better off we are.
- [03:32]
Michael Steele
You know, the idea of. Of the role that America has played in the world has always gone through various iterations, but it is. But there's always also been a constant thread of consistent democratic leadership. Always an advocate for democracy, even when we would fall short in that pursuit. We were always the trusted advocate for freedoms and the rights of individuals and would try to hold that torch up as high as we could. Now we've set ourselves aflame with that torch. We're burning our own selves up because we've lost sight of that. And I think a lot of it's going to be the American people sort of rounding us back to those core ideas. Because I really sense as we move into the second year of this administration, more and more people are kind of landing in that spot. More and more people are saying, yeah, you know, there's some shit I didn't like, and this or that I have issues with, but this isn't really what I want the country to be. This isn't what I want us to look like to the world. I want the world to like us and respect us and follow us and not treat us the way we have treated the pariahs of the world, like Russia, slash Soviet Union, North Korea, Iran, et cetera. Right now, we are no better than Iran in many respects in how we approach our own people. We're not murdering 35,000 people at one time. But, you know, to be Honest. Taking away their ability to vote and exercise their civil liberties and to enjoy the freedoms that have been granted under our Constitution, whether they are an immigrant or naturally born here. Yeah. That is a killing of spirit that I think a lot of Americans resent right now. And it's good to hear more voices sort of leading that, that charge, if you will.
- [05:37]
Leigh McGowan
Yeah. And I think people have a really hard time. Like you were talking about me doing work on networks and speaking up for the people. And I had a conversation recently on CNN where they were basically saying, you know, if I'm not pro, pro, pro this war, that means I'm anti military, anti American, anti patriotic. And I was like, that's not, that's not what's happening here. Like, if you are pro military, if you are pro America, if you are pro what our values are supposed to be, you should question this war. What are we doing there? Don't know. What's our goals? Don't know. What's our plan to get out? Don't have one, didn't plan for it. No strategy. We're going to put our own soldiers in harm's way with no plan to get them out. That's not pro military. It's pro. Whatever this is that more aligns us, as you said, with places like North Korea, Russia, these places that not only seem to have very little interest in their people and their people's well being, but also in just the power of the leader of the state to do whatever they want, whenever they want, without thought or foresight. And I think that's who we more align with these days.
- [06:37]
Michael Steele
Yeah, you know, I agree with that. You know, let's. Can we just put that bull aside about if you're not down with what Donald Trump is doing and Pete Hecks doing the bro man, Secretary of Defense bullshit every day that you're somehow anti military. Can, can we not fall into that level of stupid people out there? Can we not do that? Because you know damn well that's not true. My dad served in the Korean War. I had a cousin died in the Vietnam War. I wanted to join the military but couldn't. But I've always been supportive. My godson just graduated from West Point. And you know, whether it's him or other people that I know who have served and are currently serving, they're looking at this and going, what the hell are we doing? You know, when you had the group of senators do the video, basically, you know, saying, hey, you don't have to follow an unlawful order. There were a lot of Men and women in our military nodding their heads going, yeah, we know, we get it. We're not. Trust me. Right. And thank you for putting this out here so people understand. And so this idea that somehow if I'm not supporting the invasion of Venezuela and the invasion of Iran and the use of our military both overseas and here at home, somehow I'm anti military. I'm just not going to. You're not going to peg me with that. You're just not. And so don't even try to come with me with that stupid. Because you're going to get the brush back. And if you want to have that conversation, fine. But it's typically people who have never put on the uniform in the first place who are making that noise. And the ones like Pete Hexeth who have should be ashamed of themselves because they know damn well that when you juxtapose the military that way, when you frame our military that way, it's antithetical to everything that we have tried to avoid doing since the founding of the country.
- [08:39]
Leigh McGowan
Yeah. I don't think the people who are in charge right now have any sense of what we've been trying to do since the founding of the country. I think their worldview begins, I mean, first of all, but I think their worldview begins and ends at what serves them right and what serves them in this exact moment. You know, like, even if you just look at this war in general we're talking about, of course it doesn't make us anti military. I come from a military family. My father in law is a literal military hero. You know, my son would have probably been very interested in the military, but he doesn't want to fight under this president in illegal wars that, you know, that hurt civilians and other places. He's no interest in that. But let's talk about how ill prepared this group was. Like I wrote you weeks ago to say, like, look, I want to talk to you because I'm feeling really discouraged about what's going on and I'd love your insight. And that was before we attacked Iran. Right. So. So, like let's look at where we are right now. We were very ill prepared by this group of leaders for this war. We seemingly went into it with no strategy at all. I'm hardly an international or oil and gas expert, but it was very obvious that the Iranians would close the Strait of Hormutz. Like that was a major move that they had and we were somehow unprepared for that. Like one fifth of the world's oil goes through that tiny little strait that the enemy we just attack controls, right? So that seems absolutely obvious. And yet our government was caught off guard by that. Now our government is asking all the other world governments that we have done nothing but alienate for a year to rush in and help them. And they're all like, thanks bro, I'll catch you on the other side of that one. You know, and then you just started something called the Board of Peace and you have all these other people that are supposed to be your allies ask them for help. But we're not doing that. You know what I mean? So it just feels like we're being not only put in major danger, but gaslit about what's actually happening. And then you see the government saying this is treasonous. If you say anything negative about the war, actually we should probably pull broadcast licenses. If people are telling the Americans that we're losing. Anything that's negative against the president, against this ill prepared war is now suddenly treason in these people's minds. The people in charge are absolute morons. Like Pete Hegseth literally said with full mouth, the straight of Hormuz is open. If it wasn't for the missiles. And you're like, I don't know what planet we're on. Like, that's the whole point. You started a war and now they're shooting at you. Like, it's not.
- [11:03]
Michael Steele
I'm telling. That's why I said people don't. Please, can we stop following stupid. I mean, you just, we elected stupid
- [11:12]
Leigh McGowan
and then it hired more stupid.
- [11:14]
Michael Steele
We did, we did. We, we elected stupid. But you lay it out so, and it's so accurate in your analysis of where we are. They've gone through all these things. They, they opened up this front and a lot of it had to do with a couple of things. One, primarily the, the ease for those listening. I just did air quote on ease that they found with Venezuela and how, quote, successful that was for them to go in and extract Maduro and haul him off. But when you stop and think about it, okay, what was the point? Because you left all of the stuff that, that is supposedly the architecture for the drugs that you think were coming out of Venezuela to the United States, which there weren't, and all the other bad stuff with the cartels you left in place. And why did you leave it in place? Because you wanted to create a side deal with those folks to get the oil. That was, the whole Venezuelan thing was, okay, we'll grab Maduro because, yeah, there's a warrant for his arrest by some Court here in the US So we just go take him out, but we'll leave everything else in place because we want to control the oil in Venezuela. That's what that's about. Then you come over, okay, what are we doing here in Iran? What's Iran about? Iran is essentially about oil, too, as well, because guess what? Jared Kushner and the nitwit with him are negotiating. They're negotiating oil deals. That's what they're negotiating. They're negotiating land deals where, you know, they get a piece of something. Just reported last, at the end of last week, Jared Kushner is looking for the folks in the Middle east to invest in his fund. That's why you're there sitting at the table, a gentleman. If you could put a billion, two or three into the fund, you know, I'll tell my, my father in law to go easy on you.
- [13:17]
Leigh McGowan
I literally said that on television last week. I said, I think we're in this war because Jared Kushner told Donald Trump to be in it. And Benjamin Netanyahu and Jared Kushner were talking about that. I think they convinced him to go into this war. I think he is confused. We're not winning. I don't think he understands. And he's being played by a bunch of people. And he's fine to make money and he wants to feel like a big man. And he loves playing soldiers with the little people that he can move around the board like he's playing a little game of R Risk, except they're all real people, real lives.
- [13:48]
Michael Steele
Yeah.
- [13:49]
Leigh McGowan
And we're killing civilians all over the place. And all we're doing is making more enemies for America. We have made America less safe with this move than we were before this move. And a bunch of people will make money from it. And the rest of us will suffer.
- [14:01]
Michael Steele
For all of the bravado from Hegseth and Trump, especially about. It's treason if you don't, if you don't agree with what we're doing. If you speak ill of what we've done in this war, you know what I'm going to speak ill of more than anything else? The fact that these MF's have not acknowledged the men and women who've been killed. Donald Trump went to the dignified transfer in a frigging baseball cap and did not take it off when the bodies of those men were being brought in front of him. Pete Hegseth gives a press conference and whines like a little baby about the fact that we're talking about the dead soldiers and didn't even bring it up until the back end of his conversation. The fact that you will not honor the dead, that the men and women that have that you committed to this war who now come home in coffins that you disrespect their memory that way. Don't talk to me about the fact that I'm bitching about the way you're prosecuting the war, because that to me is the treason.
- [15:12]
Leigh McGowan
And I think we need to be really clear to the people who haven't seen that the dignified transfer is bringing home soldiers that have died in combat. They come home with the flag draped coffin. Donald Trump was there on the side. He was wearing, as you said, a baseball cap which my father won't even let my son wear, like in a restaurant, you know what I mean? Like it's old school manners. He then immediately had a pack fundraise off that photo, a photo of him in a baseball cap with a literal coffin in the picture being like, send us money and we'll give you private secret briefings from the Oval Office. And I was like, this is absolutely sickening. And then instead of bringing a hearse for each one of the fallen soldiers, they stuck them in delivery vans piled on top of each other. And I think that the disrespect to our soldiers, not just how we treat them, not just that we'll send them to war without a plan, but the real visuals of what's happening even when they come back stateside having given the ultimate sacrifice, is what people really need to kind of pay attention to.
- [16:13]
Lee McGowan
Look, we, we talked about Hillary Clinton and Benghazi for years.
- [16:19]
Leigh McGowan
She was the Secretary of State when those soldiers died in Benghazi, which was an active war zone. She had no actual direct influence over those people's deaths. And she sat there for 11 hours. We talked about it for years that she was a murderer. We have already had more American death due to sheer incompetence. And I haven't heard a word about people talking to Rubio or blaming Rubio for it. Right now, Marco Rubio is up for the next Republican presidential candidate. And this guy's walking around in shoes that don't fit rather than telling the President the shoes that he gave him were the wrong size. Like, these are not leaders. These are in their own words. These are the most beta of beta cucks I've ever seen.
- [17:01]
Lee McGowan
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- [17:20]
Leigh McGowan
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- [17:21]
Lee McGowan
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- [19:38]
Leigh McGowan
And because this is the point of
- [19:40]
Lee McGowan
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- [19:46]
Leigh McGowan
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- [19:47]
Lee McGowan
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- [20:11]
Leigh McGowan
we sent you in their own words. These are the most beta of beta cucks I've ever seen.
- [20:17]
Michael Steele
I like that one. Yeah. Beta cucks. Well, the fact that, you know, Donald Trump is telling you what pair of shoes to wear should tell you everything about the kind of men we have leading the country right now, people. I mean, think about it. If you came into work and your boss said to you, I need you to wear these shoes here from now on. And you go, okay, well one I okay, but they're just plain black shoes and they're like, yeah, but then they don't fit and you don't say anything. Who's the problem here, you or your boss? Look, Marco Rubio's problem is J.D. vance. J.D. vance's problem is Marco Rubio. And that's kind of how Trump likes it. Because to be honest, I don't think Trump sees either one of them as the presidential nominee after he leaves because Donald Trump sees himself as the presidential nominee. And that's a whole nother conversation. And there's a lot that can be can said about that. But the reality of it is a man like Donald Trump always surrounds himself with small men. And there's a reason for that. Because the ones that have same stature, ability to in your face, they're not there now. They weren't there in the first term. They were gone within six months or a year. When you draw the line with the smallest of men like Trump, they get rid of you. And they will only surround themselves with those who are smaller than them, who are weaker than them, who are less than them. And that's where these guys are. And then they use someone like a Stephen Miller as a cudgel and he's there to again. If you recall the moment Trump started to pull back on the aggressive efforts around immigration, Miller stepped In right. And he, he quelled the noise and got everybody back on the page he wants them on. And we resumed. So, yes, things are quiet in Minnesota, but are they really? And are they really anyplace else? Because that threat is always there. And as we move closer and further towards these elections this November, it's going to come back. This is the distraction. We're not talking about Epstein the way we were a week before the war started. And that's for a reason, folks. But on my show we talk about Epstein.
- [22:47]
Leigh McGowan
We should never, never stop talking about Epstein. I mean, listen, you hear Pete Hegseth, you hear the President and you hear the FCC chair, Brendan Carr, who are all suggesting what we said earlier, that saying anything against America saying anything, that other than the America's winning this war is unpatriotic, it should be censored. Brendan Carr is now saying if networks don't tow the government line, they might get their licenses, you know, revoked. This is full on threat to the First Amendment stuff. Hegseth just said that he can't wait for Ellison to take over cnn. It can't happen fast enough because then we won't be hearing all these, you know, facts online. Like we don't need to have that. And I have to say, like, this should really upset people who believe in free speech, who believe in the freedom of the press, because it doesn't serve you to have a state run media. Because if you have a state run media, then what you have is when, when they, when the government shoots Alex Preddy in cold blood in the head and then the news tells us their company line, which is that Alex Preddy was a domestic terrorist, he was attacking them, you know, and we just accepted as truth because we don't see the, the truth. And the government tells us what we want to hear, we may as well be Russia, we may as well be China, we may as well be North Korea. And that's what they want. They want the Epstein files to go away. They want America to always look like the hero, not the villain. I don't know if anyone saw the amount of books on black history and LG that have been thrown out of Florida colleges. It was like giant, giant dumpsters full of books so that people can't learn their own history so they don't know what's going on. And I think we really have to be very aware that this is actually what they want. They want to do what they want and then have us not know about it. And that's why the importance of like independent media Right now is so key because with the regular media that they control, they're going to do everything they can to control the message. It's a. A strongman tactic. It's happened all over the world. It's what happened in Hungary, it happened in Belarus. It's what happens and it's what's happening here.
- [24:42]
Michael Steele
It is the life's blood right now. It is the line that we can draw. Imagine, folks, what you would know or understand about what happened to Renee Goode and Mr. Preddy if there weren't individuals there with their cell phones recording it. Imagine what you would think. Imagine what you would know. The only thing you would know would be what Donald Trump's Homeland Security people, what they would tell you, what his own departments would tell you. That would be all you'd know. And so therefore, you would think that these individuals were domestic terrorists. You would think that Renee Goode deliberately took her car and drove it into a police officer. Because that's the only truth that you would know would be what the government told you, which is why you now hear them saying that we're going to pull broadcast licenses. We're going to shut down the ability for you to show the world what we're doing and to tell the world about what we're doing. We don't want any other opinion but the one we put in front of you. You. That is truth. And anything less than our truth is treason. And that's where we are. Folks. If this is not complicated math, pick up a damn history book. Okay, then do the Google. If you don't actually have a physical book and go back to the 1930s, don't go to 39 when, when all the shit broke out. Go to 33. Look at what was happening in 34. Listen, read what was being said in 35 and 36 and you begin to see the woven threads, the evolution of culture and society into what would become the Nazi machine. Just use a tenth of the brain power you have to set yourself free enough to realize that Donald Trump and his administration are full of crap. The man at the top of this government is a liar. He is a purveyor. There's a reason why he's in the Epstein files. Not seven times, people, not 20 times, 38,000 times, is because he had a relationship with the man. Think about it. If you drew a picture of a naked woman and gave it to a friend, why would you do that? Because there was something about you and that friend that you guys did that you know about each other, where you get that joke. And you know what that means.
- [27:37]
Leigh McGowan
And every day is a beautiful new secret.
- [27:40]
Michael Steele
Every day is a beautiful new secret.
- [27:42]
Leigh McGowan
A beautiful new secret written inside the body of what looks like a prepubescent woman.
- [27:49]
Michael Steele
So come on, would you stop? Tell me, would you share that with your child? Is that you would say, hey, this is a picture that daddy drew? No. And so people just need to stop BSing themselves. For me, it had ended long before we got here. And the icing on the cake was the Access Hollywood video. I have sons, and I wouldn't want my sons talking like that about a woman. So I'm not. Why would I want that in my president? Why would I want that in any leader? And so who looks at women that way as a thing that you can use and that you can do what you want with.
- [28:36]
Leigh McGowan
We're seeing more and more young men these days falling into that, because why wouldn't they, if that's the president they see, if that's what they're seeing and why they're all being red pill contented.
- [28:46]
Michael Steele
Saw a string of videos last week, you know, where these young men were like, well, I don't need a girlfriend. Okay, why don't you need a girlfriend? Well, because, you know, I don't trust them. And they. So, you know, I just, I just have a group of guys that I'm like, okay, that's not healthy. And then you have another guy talking about he just went out and got himself a doll, a life size dollar.
- [29:12]
Leigh McGowan
Honestly, I think that's safer for most of us right now. I would rather that guy have a doll than be inflicting himself on some poor woman right now. I mean, they need to pull it together. Look, and those of us who are raising sons need to pull them together too. But I want to come back because, listen, you ran the frickin rnc, so I must talk to you about what's going on with our two political parties right now. Because I am having such a hard time watching everything go down. Because it's not that I didn't expect this from Donald Trump. I expected this from Donald Trump. I expected this from the morons and the self dealers he appointed to his cabinet. Like every single one of them. I was like, not fit, fit, not fit, not fit. As they, you know, so this is not surprising me. I expected this from psychopaths like Stephen Miller, from the guys at the Heritage foundation who knew exactly what they were doing. I expected all of this from these people. What I did not expect was that Congress would completely abdicate their responsibility to hold any of these people accountable, both Republicans and Democrats. I really didn't expect the Republicans to be this, this useless and spineless and just roll over and let democracy die like this. But I also didn't expect the majority of Democrats to be this useless as an opposition party. So we clearly can't expect anything from this particular Republican Party. Like you were just talking about the 38,000 times that Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. Mike Johnson is still trying to sell us, the head of the House of Representatives is still trying to sell us on the idea that Trump is in the Epstein files that many times because he was an informant, because he was trying to take Epstein down. And Trump doesn't lie. And that's what Trump told him. I mean, if this is the man in charge of the House, we have to ever hold this administration accountable. Right? So how do you see your party right now other than a bunch of capitulating enablers?
- [31:02]
Michael Steele
It's a wasteland, folks. Let me take you back to a stage in the summer, spring, summer of 2016, when you had the young guns of the time of the gop, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie on that stage, running for the president. And in the middle of that stage, which to this day, I never understood why Donald Trump was in the middle of the stage in that lineup, in that debate, as opposed to the end, because he was the outlier and at that time polling 3 or 4% in the polls. But. But somehow he had talked them into putting him center stage and they got their asses kicked by him. That said more to me about where we were headed than anything else, that none of them stood up to defend their wives when Donald Trump called them names. None of them stood up for their own dignity or their families. When Donald Trump talked about their brother and their fathers, none of them asserted themselves as better business people than Donald Trump. Carly Fiorina, for one, run circles around Donald Trump as a businesswoman. Nothing. So it said a lot about the idea that what would drive people would be their impulse for power, not their impulse for. For leadership. And the way they got the power would be from people supporting them as opposed to them leading people. That's where power ultimate comes from. It comes from the fact that you are leading people, that you are creating a narrative around which ideas and policies and a situation is being addressed, as opposed to you're being led by the whims and wilds of people that aren't necessarily connected to this straight line, this straight trajectory. And so Donald Trump knew that. And so what Donald Trump did, he went in and he led these people along the path that they were already going. So you want to zig, he'll zig with you. You want to zag, he'll zag with you. Today, I'm not surprised that we have a Mike Johnson as Speaker, because the other speakers, I mean, of the two parties, we're the only one to get rid of our. We've gotten rid of every Republican speaker going back to Newt Gingrich. We have removed every Republican. The Democrats haven't removed them by virtue of defeating Republicans and taking the House. We have removed them ourselves. Every last one.
- [33:41]
Leigh McGowan
Yeah.
- [33:42]
Michael Steele
And so the Republican Party in the modern era has been this conflicting cesspool of ideology, extremism, racism, and a whole lot of other things that have just kind of roiled and boiled within its cauldrons. And Donald Trump came in and took that pot and just turned it over, just spilled the contents out. And so this is how we get a Mike Johnson. Mike Johnson was a backbencher. No one in the House knew who Mike Johnson was, and they damn sure were going to promote him for speaker. But. But of all the names that they were looking at, he was the safest. And when Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz and others showed they had the power to remove a speaker, you go the easiest route you possibly can. So you get a guy who. The only thing he knows how to do is two things. Nod his head yes and plant his lips squarely on the behind of Donald Trump. That's it. The only two requirements. And he's good at both of those. That's why the word in Washington is the speaker of the House is Donald Trump. Which is why I say to folks who have a choice this November, you need to clean the House. We need to clean the House, we need to clean the Senate, because the infection is deep and it is real. And you need people who are going to lead us, not be led by Donald Trump. If that's your loyalty test, your loyalty test is to the man and not the mission. To the man and not the Constitution. To the man and not the hopes and dreams of families and communities around the country, then you have no. No reason to be in power, no reason to hold an office. You are not worthy. You are not worthy of my vote, you're not worthy of my support, and you're not worthy to put your hand on a Bible and lie to us when you take that oath that you're going to uphold the Constitution and protect our rights.
- [35:51]
Leigh McGowan
Yep. And I think we have to remind people that you're a Republican, saying that you're a lifelong Republican.
- [35:55]
Michael Steele
I'm a Republican Party, absolutely.
- [35:58]
Leigh McGowan
Yeah. And that's the thing, like, we have to remind people, before I go on and ask you about the Democrats, we have to remind people that the Republicans have the majority in both the House and the Senate. They have the presidency. They essentially have the Supreme Court. They could stop this insanity tomorrow. They could vote against this war. They could overturn the executive orders. They could stop ICE killing us in the streets. They could impeach this man. They could remove this man even with what they have from Jack Smith's testimony, even if they didn't touch the Epstein files, they could remove him and take his boot off our necks. But they don't. And while they don't, they're going to start sending our sons and daughters to die in a useless war. So we need to remember that it's the Republicans that could stop this. They're just choosing not to. And when we get a chance to
- [36:40]
Lee McGowan
vote, even if you voted Republican your
- [36:42]
Leigh McGowan
whole life, you are a man who ran the Republican Party. It is time to clean house from anyone who is no longer an actual representative, but a foot soldier in whatever war Donald Trump will take us into next. So I think that's a really essential thing. But then when it comes to the Democrats, I watched you on the weekend show talking to Congressman Ro Khanna, who by the way, I think is actually one of the people who is not afraid to rock the boat, who really has stood 10 toes down against his administration working with Thomas Massie with the Epstein files. But you were asking him why the Democratic caucus can't get with the program, that they can't realize that we're at a tipping point in this nation and they need to kind of wake up before it's too late. And I think that that's so essential that you're talking about stepping up to fight even though we're in the minority. Because people always say, well, what are we supposed to do? We're in the minority. Like, like, what do you think? Because I know what I think. But like, what is your thought on where the Democrats are right now?
- [37:41]
Lee McGowan
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- [39:27]
Leigh McGowan
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- [39:29]
Lee McGowan
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- [40:53]
Leigh McGowan
What is your thought on where the Democrats are right now?
- [40:55]
Michael Steele
Let's be clear about the battlegrounds and why Ro Khanna stands out along with Representative Garcia and a handful of other the House if you're in the House as a Democrat, you are basically in a wasteland. The House rules are written in a way that you have no power. What makes the Democrats viable in the House down is the fact that the margin is two seats. And so Republicans, actually it's one Republicans can't afford to lose. They can't afford to lose one vote. So Democrats have a little bit of, a little bit more leverage and margin there than they otherwise would have under the rules of the House, House and Ro Khanna especially. And those who have been pressing on the Epstein files and moving that ball forward and connecting that dot to other dots, whether it's the war, it's affordability, it's, you know, the economy have been very, very successful in doing that. They, they represent that aspect of the fight that Democrats have to engage in, even though they have limited resources to do so. They have been very effective at doing that. The Senate is a different animal. The Senate, even when you're in the minority, you still have power. You still have the ability to shut shit down and to stop it from flowing and to gum up the works and to make the Senate leadership, the majority, pay attention.
- [42:20]
Leigh McGowan
We can remind people how powerful Mitch McConnell was as a minority leader, how much he was able to shut down of what Obama wanted to accomplish, even though Obama had the House.
- [42:29]
Michael Steele
And that's what Democrats should be asking. What would Mitch McConnell do? What in the minority, what would Mitchell McConnell do? We're going to see that on the SAVE Act. We're going to see that on a few other things that I think Senate Democrats are prepared to fight. They're not Giving. Going to give ground on the funding for homeland security. I don't blame them until they get the appropriate concession.
- [42:51]
Leigh McGowan
I'm going to remind people, if they don't know what you're talking about, that the Democrats have separated what would be the TSA funding, Secret Service, all those things separate from DHS and ice because they're saying ICE needs to have some guardrails. They have no guardrails. They're shooting people in the street. We don't know what they're doing. They're masked agents. We will fund. They've put five bills forward to just fund the TSA people. Like all these lines at the airport are the Democrats fault? You're like, nope, they put together five bills to fund those guys, no problem. But they need to keep negotiating ICE because ICE is out of control. And what you're saying is they're going to hold strong on that. And I really hope that they do because that is a essential.
- [43:29]
Michael Steele
It is a very essential. And I, and I, and I think they will. I am suspect of Chuck Schumer's ability to do that. I don't think Chuck Schumer has learned how to, to be Mitch McConnell in this moment. And I, and I think that's a weakness for the Democrats. So there will be others, I think, who will step up and lead in that space. They have to, to hold that line.
- [43:50]
Leigh McGowan
Yeah, we need a senator Chris Murphy. We need someone like that the next Senate.
- [43:55]
Michael Steele
I don't see Schumer being the leader in the majority or the minority. I think Senate Democrats have the opportunity right now to actually take the Senate. I think they're going to be seats that we're going to realize. Now, I've said now I've been in this space for about a year. I'm the crazy guy in the corner who's saying what. I'm looking at the tea leaves And I see two things converging for Democrats in the Senate, 2006 and 2010. In 2006, the narrative was the party in power, the Bush administration, the war, the economy, all converged and people like, hell no, we're tired of it. They didn't have Epstein, they didn't have ice. They didn't have two American citizens killed on the streets. They didn't have military confrontation in neighborhoods. So when you factor all of that in 2006, it's just a powder keg of crazy explosions across the country. For the party in power, 2010 was a narrative that worked against Democrats because again, the economy coming off of the 2008, 2009, economic collapse, the health care policies of the administration, along with a few other policies around cap and trade that were really converging narratively against the Democrats. And from a policy position, now you're getting into some of the issues you have already mentioned around affordability, the economy, et cetera, tariffs, all of those issues. So you have these things converging at a timely for the party in power that are a seabed of discontent, which the Republicans, instead of focusing on that and getting ahead of it to stem the flow of it, have not. So what's happened? Democrats have won virtually every special election, not by a little, but by margins that are overwhelming. If you're doing politics, if I'm the RNC chairman, I'm nervous. No, no, no, no. I'm actually afraid about what can happen right now. If you go back and look at the cycle in 2009 and 2010, what was I doing? I was winning special elections. I was winning elections where people weren't paying attention. And so that would became a predicate for what I would see happening in the House that November, which is why I was like, oh, no, we're going to do better than 30 Republican. Even Republicans are like, this chairman doesn't. He's just spending all this money. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's not going to win. We'll be lucky if we win 39 seats. We should be winning 45, but we'll be lucky if we win 39 people. I won 63, baby. I won 800. Almost a thousand state legislative seats. That helped redistricting. My bad. I'll admit it.
- [46:54]
Leigh McGowan
Yeah, right. Thank you.
- [46:56]
Michael Steele
But you know what? Play the game, baby.
- [46:59]
Leigh McGowan
You did your job. You did your job. I would love to have Ken Martin be doing what you did during those years. I think the thing is, what you're talking about here is exactly the reason that Donald Trump is saying he's not going to sign a single bill until the SAVE Acts pass, that every single one of the Republicans are like, oh, by the way, we're doing nothing until the SAVE act passes. They're telling all of their people that Democrats don't want you to have ID to vote where you already need ID to vote. What they're saying is we're going to change what the idea is and we're going to give all of the state roles to the feds and they can decide who gets to vote. They can pull people every 30 days from the voting rolls. They could take me right off the voting rolls. On, you know, October 27th, right before the election. That's actually what the SAVE act does. So these guys know they're losing, which is why they've done everything from gerrymandering to getting. They want to get rid of vote. You mail in voting. They want to get rid of everything. And I be aware of the party that isn't trying to earn your vote, but take your vote. And that's what they're doing.
- [47:54]
Michael Steele
And that's important. So. And what's important about the vote for folks to understand is that what Project 2025 and the various iterations, updates to it since then in the voting space have been focused on. It's not just going after the stuff that they claim, but it's also going after people who are here legally, legitimately immigrants, and going back and questioning their process. So if you as a Canadian citizen or you as a citizen from Mexico, another country who are here legally, got it all done, and you're now an American citizen too, they go away. Time out. We want to take a look at that because we think that process was flawed and therefore pull your voting record. That's why they want the records. That's why they want the records. They want to see exactly A, how you registered, B, how you voted. And if they don't like either, either of those or anything else, they put a red flag on your status and your ability to vote in the upcoming election. And while you fight through the process of the paperwork, the vote takes place and it's over.
- [49:10]
Leigh McGowan
Yeah. And I was disenfranchised with millions of others of my friends.
- [49:14]
Michael Steele
Exactly. So where the Democrats. To complete the thought on the Democrats, where the Democrats have been very effective, have been leveling some of these pieces up, not as a party per se, but through individual narratives and actions by some running for office, some currently in office that have been very effective. Gavin Newsom, for example, and certainly Ro Khanna and others create this framing that have helped individual candidates run. What we see happening in Texas with Telarico right now is going to be very, very important in that narrative space and sort of connecting those dots. And so I'm not looking so much for the Democratic Party writ large under the leadership of the chairman in that umbrella. That storyline is not the one that I had in 2010. It really is going to be what the individual states and what candidates are going to be able to do in making their case directly to voters and telling the story. As you already outlined, why you need to vote for me versus voting for this, because you vote for this, you vote for the status quo because Donald Trump is the status quo here. We want candidates who are advocating for common sense approach to the world and our place in it. And I think that's the story that the Democrats, to a large degree, have gotten better at telling. The first year was tough. I'm no lie. And going into this year, they have found their footing on a number of fronts, and that's been played out and realized in the gains that they've made in elections that they otherwise wouldn't have won.
- [51:00]
Leigh McGowan
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, one of the things you said about a year ago is Democrats need to stop helping Republicans. They need to choke on their own majority and take full responsibility for what they've done. And you were like, enough of this kumbaya bipartisan crap. Let them own it. Now that we're at war, I think the Democrats are like, yeah, let them own it. Like, you did this. You did this. You are the ones hiding the Epstein files. You are the ones beating us up in the streets. You are the ones making these lines at TSA long. You are the ones ruining the economy. You are the ones trashing it all, and you have all control. So stop blaming us.
- [51:34]
Michael Steele
Right?
- [51:35]
Leigh McGowan
Suck on it.
- [51:36]
Michael Steele
The other side of that argument that if I'm a Democrat, I make is come January 2027, we will bring accountability to this administration. We will make them own the death of the men who were killed in those boat strikes, in grabbing Venezuela because no one's accounted for the people who were killed there. We will make them own the death of Preddy and others. We will make them own how we got into this war. We will make them own this economy and be accountable for it.
- [52:11]
Leigh McGowan
And if I may, Michael, we will make them own what's happening in these freaking detention centers because we are killing people. We are raping people. There are girls that went in not pregnant, who are now separated from their families, who are teenagers, who are now pregnant, which means that they were raped into pregnancies in American detention centers. We are building concentration camps. We just put $38 billion into concentration camps that they're going to build across America. They need to have that around their neck like an albatross for the rest of the of their days. So, honestly, I know I've had you for a while. I want to thank you so much for joining us. I always love your perspective. I always love your candor. Last time you were here, you reminded people not to be afraid. You said, fear shuts us down, action fires us up. What do you want to leave people with this time.
- [52:56]
Michael Steele
You have one thing in front of you, and to be honest, nothing else matters, and that is this November. And every step along the way, through all, every damn primary, overwhelm the ballot with your vote. Our system, folks, is 50 Independent Electoral Systems. It is not a federal system, and it cannot be federalized, no matter how much Donald Trump and others try. And the one anecdote to every effort is your vote. They can't cheat when you overwhelm the ballot with your vote, there's too many votes. When a lot of people turn out and vote, you cannot cheat that system. You just can't. I know. I know firsthand. You can't. All right? I'm telling you. Not that I've tried. I've always been on the defense. Just so we're clear. All right, I know, because I've been on the side defending against that. We had some issues here in Maryland back in the 1990s with folks trying to cheat the system. Right? So my point is, when you overwhelm the ballot with your vote, when you are engaged, you win. You win. Our founders knew that. They knew it, and that's why they put the power in the hands of the people and not the government. So, folks, please, between now and then, focus on how you will turn out your vote. You will turn out your communities. You will turn out the people who've been harmed by this administration. You will turn out the people who are serving in our military. You will turn out voters to vote for this country. It's time we vote for the country. And I think that's the only thing I can leave you with, because that's what I'm doing.
- [54:48]
Leigh McGowan
Yep. Vote for the country.
- [54:49]
Lee McGowan
It's not for a party. It's not for a man.
- [54:51]
Leigh McGowan
It's not for a woman.
- [54:53]
Lee McGowan
It's for who we want to be
- [54:54]
Leigh McGowan
and who we want to represent in this world. Never shut up about it and never miss an opportunity to have your voice
- [55:01]
Lee McGowan
heard through your vote.
- [55:02]
Leigh McGowan
Thank you so much, Michael.
- [55:04]
Michael Steele
Thank you.
- [55:07]
Lee McGowan
So that was Michael Steele reminding us that the role America has played in the world has changed. Where we were always advocates for democracy and freedom and the rights of the individual, even when we failed to always deliver that, we are now more aligned with the nations who attack their own own citizens, muzzle their own press, and ignore the needs of their own people. And if that is unacceptable to you, then we have one job. This November and every step along the way to November, turn out the vote, turn out our communities, and vote for this country. This is no longer about parties or individuals. It's about our nation and our choice to either save it or let it die. I want to thank Michael for joining us today and you for caring enough about democracy to be here until next week. PGF before you go, I want to remind you that the American government is trying to silence any voices that don't toe the party line. They don't care about the truth. They want state run propaganda. Which is why we need to be funding independent media. Mainstream media, cable news and social media are almost now exclusively run by a handful of Trump supporting billionaires. So if you respect what I'm trying to do here, if you learn something from my podcasts or my rants, if you would like to get this podcast ad free delivered directly to your inbox along with my kitchen rants and TV appearances, please consider becoming a member of Politics Girl Premium by going to politicsgirl.com and signing up. If you're already a premium member of this podcast, thank you so much for your support. But if you're not a member, please consider being a patron of my work. If you want real knowledge in a world of lies, it is essential to support those of us out here still trying to bring them to you. There is a link to sign up in the bio of this episode, but also on politicsgirl.com and as always, please like and share these podcasts so we can grow our audience because the more people who have access to this kind of information, the better. As always, thank you for your time and support. The Politics Girl Podcast is written and performed by me, Leigh McGowan and produced and edited by Happy Warrior Entertainment. All rights reserved.