McCarthy Wins and MTG Will be the House’s Most Powerful Speaker

• Steele said MTG would “most powerful” speaker if McCarthy won the House speakership.
• MSNBC’s former chair of the RNC stated that McCarthy would continue to listen to the controversial MTG.
• Steele said that MTG would have the “possibility to control what Kevin says.”

Michael Steele, former Republican National Committee chair, stated Friday that Marjorie Taylor Greene would be the “most powerful speaker” of the House if Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader, ascends to the position.

Steele participated in a roundtable discussion during MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program. told hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski that Greene would be able to “control what comes out of Kevin’s mouth,” and other ultraconservative Republican lawmakers would have immense sway over a Speaker McCarthy during the next Congress — especially as he will likely have to make major concessions to some members in order to secure the requisite votes needed to become speaker.

Steele, who remarked that the overall GOP response to former President Donald Trump’s dinner with white supremacist Nick Fuentes and Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, was not forceful enough, also said that many in party leadership were capitulating to figures like Greene — who continue to hold immense influence among Freedom Caucus members.

“The party leadership said, with a kind of milquetoast, “Oh, no, we don’t love antisemitism,” without saying that the former president was the case. It is up to us to draw that very sharp line and say, “This is not who and what we want to be.” I haven’t heard it. Steele stated that a small portion of the party still holds political, financial and other sway over the leadership.

“Marjorie Taylor Greene, the most powerful speaker of this House, will have the chance to control Kevin’s mouth around those things that matter to that small cadre,” said he. “I just call it what it is. It’s called shadow. I call it the thing — because you can’t break that separation when you’re dragging her to your events and you’re propping her up, and you’re telling her, ‘Not only are we going to put you back in the same committee, we’re going to give you a powerful leadership role.'”

McCarthy is currently accumulating the votes in a likely 222-seat House GOP majority in January. This would be only four seats more than the 218-seat threshold to secure control of this chamber.

Five Republicans have already said that they won’t back McCarthy for speaker. The California lawmaker, however, warned his fellow GOP members Monday that Democrats could pick the next speaker if McCarthy is not elected. decidesto “play games” on the House floor.