Ex-RNC Chair Praises Kamala Harris As Proof Candidates ‘Don’t Need’ Two Years To ‘Ramp Up A Campaign’

Former Republican National Committee chair and MSNBC contributor Michael Steele praised Democratic presumptive nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign as proof that a prolonged campaigning process could be done in “six to eight months” instead of “two years.”

Steele appeared on Friday’s Morning Joe panel and complimented the Harris campaign for their “in your face” push and mused that the fact former President Donald Trump is “rage tweeting” proves the “team has gotten under his skin.”

Continuing his point, Steele said that in his late decision to step down from the race, President Joe Biden “may have unlocked” is proof that voters “don’t need” to have a “two-year” electoral process and that Harris was proof that a campaign can be run in a “short time frame.”

One more thing about this process I love right now, Joe Biden has been transformative on so many levels. I think Joe Biden may have unlocked for us a very important key in our electoral process because what we’re seeing now is the reason why we don’t need two years of a presidential race. Sorry, consultants, I know, I know. But we can do this in a very short timeframe. Because Kamala Harris is doing it.

Fellow MSNBC panelist and political strategist Symone Sanders-Townsend pushed back on the idea. She said: “Michael, I’ll have to advocate for every staffer in America for future presidential campaigns, they don’t want it.”

Steele agreed: “They don’t want it. You don’t need to do it in three weeks, but you can do it in six to eight months.”

He continued: “You don’t need three years to ramp up a campaign, trust me. I know that. But it does show flexibility – the ability to engage a conversation with the American people, and, you know, I think that is something to watch.”

He added: “I’m not saying the next cycle we’re going to do this in six months, but it shows it can be done. We don’t need two years of TV commercials running for president.”

Host Jonathan Lemire , nodding to Steele’s point: “The future here in the United States, snap elections, per Michael Steele. Certainly, it has only been a few days since Kamala Harris’s campaign has come together. They are showing that nimbleness and a sense of taking it right to Trump, but they’re also focusing on some serious issues, they say, will define this year’s election.”

Watch above on MSNBC.