Former RNC Chair Michael Steele Calls Trump ‘Visceral Animal’ Over Image Depicting Biden Hogtied in Back of Truck

MENENDEZ: “And even though we have become accustomed to his calls for political violence, it should never become normalized. I don’t know if you remember Judge Esther Salas when she was on with Nicolle Wallace, talking about these misogynists that came after her and ultimately killed her son. She has been doing a lot of work to make sure that judge’s personal information is not readily available. But she was very clear about what is at stake in the moment. I want to play a little bit of that sound.”

[Clip starts]
Wallace: “How do you fix sort of the political culture so that there is a political punishment and not a political award when a prominent figure like Donald Trump attacks the judge who will have his case?”
SALAS: “I think at the end of the day, we can start changing the way we give that news, how we cover it, how we talk about it. I like to think — you know, I read a book called ‘The four Agreements.’ It talks about the rules. One of the first rules is to be impeccable with your word. And I try every day to be impeccable with my word.”
Wallace: “What does that include when that happens? What does that look like?”
SALAS: “You know, look, I think about what I’m going to say before I say it.”
Wallace: “On the consequences?”
SALAS: “Everything.”
[Clip ends]

MENENDEZ: “Imagine that.”
(Laughter)
Steele: “That is something. That concept is way above Donald Trump’s pay grade or, I think, intellectual capacity, because he is a visceral animal politically and in business. He feels that what he says is true. And I think that is part of the problem in this environment, is he thinks it’s truth, what he is saying. The court system wants to give him the latitude that it would give folks out there, you know, not stifle their free speech. But he has shown his capacity to not give a damn about that. So it still amazes me how much the system bends itself over backwards. You have Adam Reese and Lisa Rubin and Zoey Richards published on Friday, ‘Tuesday’s order did not Merchan and his family members — a loophole that Trump seized on Wednesday.’ So you are sitting here going, don’t you know who is sitting in front of you?”
MENENDEZ: “Yeah, you give him a loophole, he will exploit it.”
Steele: “Make it very clear. I mean, how many times before we get to this moment did the judge not see that Donald Trump is a bad actor in this space, Alicia? I don’t get it at all. I’m confused about how the system still does not respond to the thing in front of it.”