They looked 'weak': Former RNC leader offers blistering opinion of GOP for being 'punked' by Matt Gaetz
07 January 2023
Shortly after Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) was finally named speaker of the House, the former leader of the Republican National Committee (RNC) offered a critical opinion of House Republican lawmakers and, particularly, the actions of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
According to Raw Story, former RNC leader Michael Steele's remarks followed a surprising late-night move by Gaetz who voted "present" on the 14th ballot which ultimately thwarted McCarthy's chances of securing the high-ranking seat. Gaetz's vote led to a 15th voting round where the California lawmaker finally won.
But despite the win, Steele is highlighting the bigger issue at play. During an MSNBC appearance on Saturday, January 7, Steele shared his opinion with MSNBC host Alio Velshi.
According to Steele, Gaetz "punked" the political system and strong-armed his own political party.
Offering his take on the infighting of House Republican lawmakers, Steele said, "I likened it, as you may recall, to the Game of Thrones actualized, where it was for the seat. Who sits in the seat? It wasn't about -- you didn't hear, people got up and started talking about all this stuff they wanted to do, but that's not going to happen. There is no policy will for a lot of the things they want to get done."
He went on to discuss the small faction of far-right House Republicans who have wreaked havoc in recent months along with those who attempted to block McCarthy.
"The moderates, such as they exist in the House, are marginalized," he continued. "The Marjorie Taylor Greene's, the Lauren Boebert's, the Matt Gaetz -- and Matt Gaetz? I don't care what you think about Matt Gaetz, but he punked the hell out of this system this week. And not just McCarthy, but 200 other Republicans who supported McCarthy."
Steele also weighed in on the repeated rounds of voting as a result of lawmakers like Gaetz.
"For 14, 15 ballots, 14 and a half ballots, they were weak and weakened, but for, in that final moment, Matt Gaetz saying 'yeah, okay, I'll vote present,' this thing probably would still be metastasizing, if you will," Steele added.
"So, you see this push for power for the sake of power, and now the question becomes, how do you wield that power?" he told Velshi. "Who gets to really wield that power? And given how they have stripped bare the speakership, I don't think Kevin is going to be that powerful. I don't know how he can be, because all it takes is one disgruntled member to say, 'you know what? I want him out of the chair.'"
Watch the video below or at this link.