Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Chuck Todd, moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) announcement that he would not be seeking re-election meant former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon “won an important battle in this fight for the soul of the Republican Party.”
Todd said, “It’s interesting, we were having this discussion in our own staff meeting. It’s like yesterday was both monumental and a pebble in a lake. What do I mean by that? On one hand, it’s extraordinary to have two United States senators do what they did yesterday. On the other hand, it’s not like anything has really changed based on yesterday. If anything, on the one hand, Donald Trump today, you could argue, has more of a grip on the Republican party today than he did yesterday. Except he also has less of a chance of passing big tax cuts today than he did yesterday.”
He added, “So it is — it’s interesting. I don’t think we quite know where we are. I think we know this. Steve Bannon won an important battle in this fight for the soul of the Republican Party, but I don’t know if we know yet whether the other side of this battle plans on taking up arms. Because while Jeff Flake made a lot of noise yesterday, he also surrendered.”
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