Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee Chairman slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) after he said that former President Barack Obama should have “kept his mouth shut” about President Trump’s disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m sure Mitch is aware that a grown ass black man who happens to be a former president has agency to speak his mind on how his successor is managing this crisis, especially since his successor has yet to keep ‘his mouth shut’ about him,’ ” Steele said. “And ‘classless’?”
McConnell lashed out at Obama during an online interview with the president’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump after she told the Kentucky lawmaker that Obama “slammed” President Trump’s response amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“I think President Obama should have kept his mouth shut. You know, we know he doesn’t like much this administration is doing. That’s understandable. But I think it’s a little bit classless frankly to critique an administration that comes after you,” McConnell said Monday.
“You had your shot. You were there for eight years. I think the tradition that the Bushes set up of not critiquing the president who comes after you is a good tradition,” McConnell added.
On Friday, Obama criticized the Trump administration’s coronavirus response, calling it an “absolute chaotic disaster,” according to an audio recording of the conversation obtained by Yahoo News.
“This election that’s coming up — on every level — is so important because what we’re going to be battling is not just a particular individual or a political party,” Obama said during a private phone call Friday night with his former aides. “What we’re fighting against is these long-term trends in which being selfish, being tribal, being divided and seeing others as an enemy — that has become a stronger impulse in American life.”
Here’s Michael Steele’s response to Mitch MCConnell:
I'm sure Mitch is aware that a grown ass black man who happens to be a former president has agency to speak his mind on how his successor is managing this crisis, especially since his successor has yet to keep "his mouth shut" about him.
And "classless"?https://t.co/kx6yyH8n4k— Michael Steele (@MichaelSteele) May 12, 2020
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