When Mitt Romney lost the 2012 presidential election, the Republican party took a hard took at what went wrong. They decided that they GOP would be better served by seeking the votes of Latino and Black Americans.
But the party essentially did the opposite. They nominated Donald Trump, whose disdain for minority voters was quite clear. And now that party knows that convincing minority voters to vote Republican is an uphill battle.
So the GOP has decided that rather than convincing more people to vote for them, they would suppress the vote. Former GOP Chair Michael Steele recently explained why that was a losing strategy.
Steele made the comments during an interview with MSNBC;s Ari Melber. He asked the host and audience, “The question to reps and voters in Georgia and Arizona and elsewhere, who are taking rights away from Black people across this country in places like Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit, how do you think this ends? How do you think this ends? Do you think black folks will just sit by and let you get away with this?”
Former GOP Chairman Michael Steele blasts Republican attempts to suppress the vote. pic.twitter.com/rEvX05A3ax
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) March 25, 2021
Steele continued:
“Every last one of your names will go on a ballot. Enjoy your time in office. Because you will see the power of the vote come back like a hammer. Like a hammer, for the action you have taken and the bill that was signed into law today. It’s antithetical to everything our party has stood for in its history and it is antithetical to everything this country has stood for. This is suppression — bold face it. And what are you going to do about it? Watch and see. There are consequences here. Don’t just think people will roll over.”
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.