Michael Steele Lays Into GOP Governors’ Covid Policies: ‘I’m Not Going to Let Stupid Kill Me’

Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele bashed Republican governors for perpetuating coronavirus recklessness with their “irresponsible” attacks on mask mandates.

Steele was on an MSNBC panel Andrea Mitchell conducted on Friday that focused on how to protect children in schools while Covid cases are up because of the highly-contagious delta variant. Steele was asked for his thoughts on the political squabbles surrounding this issue, particularly as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is leading the charge against mask-wearing among Republicans.

Steele snarked at DeSantis as he remarked that lots of anti-vax people are rationalizing their decisions because of “freedom.”

“You’re never more free than when you are dead, and if you don’t understand that, go take a look at a picture of a healthy lung and then take a look at an x-ray of a lung infected with Covid,” Steele said. “The idea that people want to be so free that they don’t want to protect themselves is idiotic, and to have leaders who perpetuate that nonsense is absolutely irresponsible.”

Steele then pointed out that Florida is currently witnessing a major surge of Covid cases. He also expressed agreement with Robert Gibbs, who was also on the panel to argue in favor of businesses instituting vaccine mandates.

“We have to go about protecting ourselves from stupid, because I’m not going to let stupid kill me, and I’m not going to let stupid infect me,” Steele said. “So I’m gonna take those precautions, and I cannot help you if you don’t want to help yourself.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.