Former RNC chairman Michael Steele was joined in criticizing Former Vice President Mike Pence by former Pence homeland security adviser Olivia Troye and columnist and former Republican Jennifer Rubin during a CPAC discussion on Saturday’s Velshi.

Steel noted that speakers at CPAC are supportive of ex-president Donald Trump, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other potential 2024 opponents, with the notable exceptions of Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy, are not in attendance.

But, Steele and his two guests said, none of the Republican field including Pence are doing anything to differentiate or distance themselves from Trump in any meaningful way. He played a clip of Pence recently refusing to support Trump’s 2024 bid, but also not saying explicitly he would not vote for Trump.

Troye, who was “very close to Mike Pence” in her previous job, said it was “infuriating” to see.

“The correct answer for my former boss should be, flat-out be, ‘no, I will not support a man who tried to kill me and my family and put members of Congress in danger and lives were lost on January 6 and tried to overturn an election,'” she said. “But for some reason, that’s incredibly hard for Mike Pence to say out loud.”

Rubin, who writes at the Washington Post, was more colorfully infuriated, expressing her shock at Pence’s “spinelessness” and equating it with the GOP at large.

Michael, aren’t you just stunned by that absolute spinelessness? It makes Ted Cruz, who wouldn’t defend his own father or his own wife look like a tower of courage,” she said. “I mean, that is just so pathetic what we saw there.”

Rubin referred widely to the CPAC attending Republicans, the primary contenders in general, and essentially the GOP et al as “cowards” in the face of Trump’s grip on the party.

“These people are cowards, spineless cowards, comical cowards,” she said. “And Mike Pence is just about the worst of them, my goodness.

Michael Steele: He doesn’t exactly say no to supporting Trump in 2024. I just don’t understand why that’s such a hard thing to do. But what are your thoughts on his non-answer there?

Olivia Troye: Well, again, I think, you know he’s already alienated whatever Trump base there is that would support Mike Pence. The correct answer for my former boss should be, flat-out be, no, I will not support a man who tried to kill me and my family and put members of Congress in danger and lives were lost on January 6 and tried to overturn an election. But for some reason, that’s incredibly hard for Mike Pence to say out loud.

And I think it’s, again, the calculus of how does he get to that Oval Office. But I don’t see a path for that. And so what is he doing? Is he trying to secure that V.P. slot again? I mean, how pathetic must this be? Like I, and I think it’s so infuriating to me, Michael, as you know, because I, I was very close to Mike Pence in my role. I, you know, I supported him. And I and I do believe that some of his conservative beliefs, I don’t believe with all of them.

But again, he is unwilling to call this man out, even though he knows firsthand the danger that this man is. He’s lived it.

Michael Steele: Yeah. And that that’s the part that’s the most stunning for me in the way you answered that at the beginning. Look, you put my life in trouble. No, I’m not supporting you for for reelection. But that’s the space we find ourselves in, Jennifer, where you’re talking about how much of a grip the president may have on this party.

Some argue it’s weakened. The other argues it still is strong. That clearly is the case with respect to the control of the base. So how does the party move itself forward or try to create a new lane with Trump leaving him behind if this grip is still there?

Jen Rubin: Michael, aren’t you just stunned by that absolute spinelessness? It makes Ted Cruz, who wouldn’t defend his own father or his own wife look like a tower of courage. I mean, that is just so pathetic what we saw there.

But I think the grip is going to go on, in part because they have this reflexive, stupid answer, which is, I support the policies of Donald Trump. What policies are those? Were there, was that covid denial? Was that backing Putin? What are these great policies that they keep touting? Separating children at the border? I’m scratching my head. What are these magic policies? You know, they’ve become so reflexive in their, ‘well, I don’t like him, but I like the policies.’ Someone should ask them which ones of them they actually like.

And this is not going to be a way to get him to go away. But these people are cowards, spineless cowards, comical cowards. And Mike Pence is just about the worst of them, my goodness.

So I think so long as they are so reticent about taking him on, they’re not going to get very far. You don’t beat somebody by not taking them on. This is a strange kind of presidential race where you don’t take on the weaknesses of your opponents. How you’re supposed to win? How are people supposed to prefer you to the other guy? It’s really kind of mindless.

Michael Steele: Yeah, I haven’t been able to figure that out. As a former chairman, that was always the first go-to: this guy’s weak? You know, cut him off at the knees and move on. But they keep finding a way to give him a crutch.

Watch the clip above, via MSNBC.

The post ‘Absolute Spinelessness’: Three Ex-Republicans on MSNBC Trash CPAC and “Pathetic’ Mike Pence first appeared on Mediaite.

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