Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, warned that extremist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will be the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, except in name.
Conspiracy theorist Greene and her fellow far-right Donald Trump-affiliated GOP legislators in the House will wield enormous influence and power over House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), should he be elected in January. until the next president of the chamber is elected, Steele remarked during Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Greene “will be the most powerful Speaker of the House because she will have the ability to dictate what comes out of Kevin’s mouth around the things that matter to that small cadre,” he predicted.
“I just call the thing what it is,” Steele continued.
You call it shadow, I call it the thing. It’s the job because what you can’t make that divorce, if she is… you drag her to your events and you support her, telling her we’re going to put you back on the committee, we’re going to give you a powerful leadership role to give. Come on.”
The then Democrat-led House stripped Greene of her committee assignments last year for her espousal of anti-Semitic and racist conspiracy theories and for “liking” Facebook posts demanding the execution of prominent Democrats.
After the GOP’s paper-thin flip of the House in the 2022 midterm elections, Greene is widely expected to be reinstated on committees, as McCarthy promised after her removal in 2021.
