MS NOW host Michael Steele on Monday shared a rather damning prediction about the upcoming State of the Union address, foreseeing nothing but lies from President Donald Trump — and unbridled support from the Republican members of Congress.
Steele and his “Weeknight” co-hosts were discussing bombshell testimony from Ryan Schwank, a former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement instructor, who said Monday that ICE is “lying to Congress and the American people” about its training protocols.
“The president tomorrow is going to get up in the podium in the well of the Congress, and he’s going to lie directly to the American people,” Steele said. “And Republicans will sit there and applaud, like little seals, every lie that comes out of his mouth.”
He continued, “And so it does become incumbent … to ask the question, how do you frame the narrative, the takeaway narrative, for what the American people hear? You cannot allow the lies to set in any more than they already have. They just can’t.”
Steele was joined by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who co-hosted the congressional forum Monday for Schwank. The former ICE instructor testified that the agency’s training program is “deficient, defective and broken” — and “will get people killed.”
Blumenthal’s office has also received internal documents suggesting ICE plans to train nearly 4,000 new officers this year, after eliminating more than a dozen exams, cutting classes from its program and spending fewer hours training cadets than ever.
“So how do we help the American people understand what they’re hearing tomorrow night is a crock, from a man who has a vested interest in selling crockery to the American people?” asked Steele, a former chair of the Republican National Committee.
Blumenthal replied, “I just want to tell you, every day, I am angry and frustrated beyond words by this president. And I’m using every tool, and so are my colleagues, to fight back. I am going to come out of that chamber tomorrow and I’m going to say exactly what I feel.”
Most Republicans have shown overwhelming fealty to Trump, however, despite some expressing relief last week that the Supreme Court struck down his tariffs and almost all of them supporting the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November.
The State of the Union address nonetheless comes at a precarious time for Trump.
His disapproval rating is the highest it’s been in five years, according to a recent Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll, and CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten said Trump has a “considerably lower” net approval rating than any of his predecessors this century.
Trump’s immigration agenda appears to be central to these figures, as his deployment of federal agents resulted in the deaths of multiple U.S. citizens last month, and a national NPR/PBS News/Marist survey later found 65% of people polled feel ICE has gone too far.
Blumenthal said Monday that it’s “disgraceful and shameful” of Trump and his administration to continue telling “untruths to the American people” about ICE, arguing that the documents he’s received and Monday’s testimony paint a clear and ominous picture.
“They’re not rogue agents,” Blumenthal said. “They’re acting under orders.”
