Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele warned his party against legitimizing some Trump-aligned figures as political leaders, calling them "fleas" and "blood-sucking ticks" whom potential House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., would have to "lay down with."
On MSNBC's "Deadline: White House," host Nicolle Wallace said current House Minority Leader McCarthy's "total capitulation" to Donald Trump in the time since the Capitol riot will have "devastating consequences" for the United States if the GOP regains control of Congress.
Wallace, a former George W. Bush communications director, cited a new book in which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is described as telling the author a Speaker McCarthy would have to take more aggressive stances toward investigating or punishing President Biden and Democrats and give her more power.
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Former Maryland Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards said, "Her ethos, her aggressiveness, her dynamic is going to dominate the upcoming Congress," which she said would be "driven by the crazies" if Republicans take control of the House.
Steele claimed that if McCarthy follows Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as Speaker he will risk being "thrown out" of leadership if he doesn't adhere to the ideology of MAGA "base" Republicans.
"Kevin McCarthy has not learned from the history of three prior Republican Speakers of the House who’ve all been thrown out by their Republican caucus. Stop and think about that – what Republicans have done to themselves going back to Newt Gingrich, John Boehner and Paul Ryan, right?" Steele said.
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He continued, "So McCarthy is now next in line with a base that is prepared to throw him out should they allow him to be Speaker. I agree with Donna, still not 100% that that’s going to happen."
"Kevin has decided to make his bed and is prepared to lie down with the lice, the fleas and the blood-sucking ticks," said Steele.
"And whatever befalls him is going to come from that relationship -- And unfortunately for the country, we’re going to have to bear the brunt of it," he concluded.
Steele has a history of harsh words for the party he used to lead. He told MSNBC viewers in August to "assume" all Republicans are "dangerous until proven otherwise" after the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago.
