GOP Leaders Suggest Their Could Be ‘Civil War’ If Trump Is Impeached, Former RNC Chair Steele Responds

Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele trashed Republicans who are suggesting there could be a “civil war” if President Donald Trump is impeached, and told Americans “to push back” against this rhetoric “and say no this is not where we are going and this is not who we are.”

Steele appeared on MSNBC’s AM Joy with guest host Jonathan Capehart and legal analyst Glenn Kirschner.

The three listened to a portion of a threatening voicemail Rep. David Cicilline (D-Rhode Island) posted on Twitter. In the voicemail, someone told him

“Cicilline.. you trying to start a f***ing civil war? Well you just keep on talking, pal. We’re already starting it. We’re planning it,” the anonymous caller said before ending with “Trump 2020.”

Kirschner responded to the voicemail saying, “The hateful, violent speech by the Louie Gohmerts and the Steve Kings of the world — Steve King recently tweeted out something about red states having eight trillion bullets, and the inference being ‘we’re not afraid to use them … you know this kind of hateful speech just proves they have no defense of the president’s conduct on the merits, so instead they behave lie common criminals.”

Louie Gohmert, a Republican congressman from Texas, has argued that argued that outlawing hate speech goes against the First Amendment and has argued that charging the El Paso shooter with a hate crime will be “used to lock up preachers someday.” Steve King (R-Iowa) has been shunned by GOP leadership for saying that the terms “white supremacist” and “white nationalist” should not be offensive.

SLIDESHOW: TOP DEMOCRATS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2020

Capehart then shared one of Trump’s tweets from Sept. 29 in which he quoted Pastor Robert Jeffress.

“So it’s not just the Louie Gohmerts of the world and the Steve Kings of the world who are engaging in this Civil War talk, it is the President of the United States,” said Capehart.

Steele responded, “I think we just need to be straight up about it and just call them out. Jeffress, Gohmert, all of them are — this is something they want.”

“Who started this silliness? Over Donald Trump? Are you freaking kidding me? I’m going to go against my neighbor over Donald Trump?” he continued. “This shows you the lunacy of this time.”

Steele referred to King’s “eight trillion bullets” comment saying, “What is it with this man that people are so obsessed, to the point of stupid that they’re sitting out here talking about ‘I got eight trillion bullets, you know we’re gonna use them’ over Donald Trump?”

He finished by saying, “Come on America, you are smarter and better than this. Get your head out of your you-know-what and focus on what’s happening here.. the manipulation, the lying, the BS over Donald Trump. It’s not worth it, the country is better than this.”

Article by Katherine Huggins