Ex-RNC chief Michael Steele predicted Monday night that former President Trump will win in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, fresh after cruising to a roughly 30-point victory in Iowa.
During his appearance on MSNBC, Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, said Trump will become the party’s nominee and possibly win New Hampshire, the next state in the GOP primary schedule, with close to 50 percent of the vote.
“I think people need to be realistic about whose party this is,” Steele said on “Inside with Jen Psaki.” “People want to run a race that doesn’t exist, and you just need to stop it and recognize the facts.”
Psaki, in rebuttal, said that the Republican Party has changed a lot since Trump stepped on the political scene.
Steele, who led the Republican National Committee from 2009-11, acknowledged the shift in the party’s dynamics but reiterated his point that Trump will still be the Republican nominee.
“The party has changed a lot,” Steele said. “I’ve watched it change on my watch. I’ve been a part of it. I’ve been in that room. I know these folks. I know them well and they are committed to the guy who is right now sitting here with all of 50 percent coming out of Iowa going into New Hampshire.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis barely edged out former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, winning second place in Iowa. Steele concluded that Trump is not losing any “steam” heading into New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada and that he does not see any other candidates slowing down the 45th president.
“And I don’t see Nikki Haley, I don’t see anybody else stopping that from happening,” Steele said.