Michael Steele, the former head of the Republican National Committee, on Monday slammed 2024 GOP candidate Nikki Haley’s latest attempt to “have it both ways” when it comes to Donald Trump.
Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, earlier in the day criticized Trump and called for generational change in the GOP — but then, in the next breath, admitted she’d still vote for the former president if he was the party’s nominee.
Haley’s “bubblegum speak” was just a “banal” bid to placate Trump supporters, Steele told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing.
Steele suggested Haley actually take on Republican frontrunner Trump or “get out of the race.”
“Stop wasting our time,” he added.
Haley would have to “sound a lot more like” former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a rival candidate who has after years of being a Trump ally now taken to repeatedly trashing the ex-POTUS, if she actually wanted the job, said Steele.
“If there was more of a unified messaging in that regard, then you would probably begin to see some movement inside the party,” the former GOP leader added. “But everyone’s hunkering down around protecting Trump as opposed to taking him out because they’re afraid of what? So … it’s almost to the point where you get tired of answering the question about what are these people doing? They have no clue what they’re doing.”