GOP strategist and Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt said he’ll register as a Democrat on Tuesday in remarks on his and David Plouffe’s Battleground podcast.
Said Schmidt: “I spent 29 years as a Republican, I’ve spent two and a half as an independent, and later this afternoon I will register as a member of the Democratic Party. Because in America today, it’s only the Democratic Party—which is the oldest political party in the world—that stands for the ideas and ideals of American liberty. I understand ideologically where I come from isn’t close to being the mean opinion of the party on some issues, but I think in this hour, for the balance of my life and my participation in politics, I’m not independent in this fight anymore.”
Schmidt also appeared with MSNBC’s Joy Ann Reid on Tuesday and spoke about his party switch: “I’m a single-issue voter. I believe in American democracy. What happened in the month of November premeditatedly, deliberately, faith and belief in American democracy was poisoned by President Trump, culminating with 126 members of the House of Representatives and 18 Republicans attorney generals signing an amicus brief to a garbage lawsuit that is, in essence, a declaration of repudiation of American democracy. Do not look at their signing onto that brief as some type of legal action. It was not. It was a political declaration. And the political declaration was one in where they turn their backs on the tradition of American democracy. We should understand what we’re looking at.”
Schmidt also warned that Republicans will try what they tried with Donald Trump again.
“This played out as a farce, mostly over the month of November. Except for the actual poisoning. It was a joke in a lot of ways, but it was a coup. It was a failed coup. The way you get to a second coup in most countries is by having your first unsuccessful one. It’s shameful conduct, dangerous conduct, and the country is in a dangerous hour. Unlike one we have been in before, because of the seditious activity.”
