The Republican talking points are out of touch with the reality of Saturday's protests. By Michael Steele In recent days, Republican leaders have warned darkly about the “No Kings” national protests scheduled for Saturday. Speaker Mike Johnson called it a...

The defense secretary outlined an alternative mission for the military as pawns in Trump's political dramas. By Michael Steele Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s speech to senior military officers in Virginia Tuesday was not only conduct unbecoming a former major of the...

His handling of the shooting of Charlie Kirk should give even Trump supporters pause. By Michael Steele When Kash Patel was nominated for FBI director, it was clear that he was the wrong person for the job. Apart from a lack of the kind of high-level law enforcement...

The next few months will determine whether Trump's power grabs become permanent. By Michael Steele Fresh off its summer recess, Congress faces its biggest test in decades. Unlike big legislative fights of the past, this one could pass by without a notice. But the next...

To serve one man’s ego, the administration is robbing the country of a clear picture of reality. By Michael Steele In Donald Trump’s first term, he infamously used a black Sharpie to alter a hurricane forecast to support his claim that Alabama would be affected by the...

The end of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was just the latest sign. By Michael Steele President Donald Trump can add another dubious achievement to his list of long-held conservative goals: killing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). After Trump...

There's more to running a political party than just writing tweets and signing checks. By Michael Steele Elon Musk has officially declared his intent to launch a new political party, an announcement long on bravado but short on substance. Our Founding Fathers didn’t...

The administration may soon be sending immigrants to countries they don't even know. By Michael Steele We don’t always recognize the hinge points of history when we live through them. But a recent Supreme Court decision may go down as one of those moments. On Monday,...

Congress will soon vote on whether Elon Musk's slashing of foreign aid was OK. By Michael Steele and Kai Ma UPDATE (June 12, 4:10 p.m. ET): The House narrowly passed the rescissions package, 214-212, with all but four House Republicans voting in favor. The legislation...

Will Republicans side with Donald Trump or stand up for conservative ideas? By Michael Steele and Kai Ma The Republican Party faces an important fork in the road: Do they stand with Donald Trump who wants to add over $3 trillion to the nation’s debt or do they stand...

The Augustinian order encourages setting aside your own needs to engage with the world. By Michael Steele and Kai Ma Pope Leo XIV is not just the first American pope, he’s the first Augustinian one. The former Rev. Robert Prevost studied at the Minor Seminary of the...

Even a kindergartner can see what’s wrong with caving to Trump. By Michael Steele and Evan Brechtel If you have kids or if you’ve been a kid yourself recently, you’ve probably heard of the famous children’s book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” It’s the cautionary tale...

JD Vance has now joined the chorus of voices in Trump’s Cabinet eager to justify Abrego Garcia’s illegal deportation by throwing the principle of due process to authoritarian wolves. By Michael Steele A popular mantra of President Donald Trump’s critics is “This is...

The embarrassing loss in a Supreme Court race shows trouble ahead for the GOP. By Michael Steele and Lynox Norman Donald Trump doesn’t like losers. So one has to wonder what he is thinking after Elon Musk, his biggest political donor, fell flat on his face in an...

Democrats keep assuming the fever will break, but it's just getting higher. By Michael Steele and Evan Brechtel This summer will mark 10 years since Donald Trump first descended the escalator at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for president of the United States....

The president again used “drill, baby, drill” in his joint address to Congress. By Michael Steele and Evan Brechtel President Donald Trump used his address to a joint session of Congress to brag about his supposed accomplishments, attack his critics and spread...

Reagan-era Republicans wouldn't recognize the party today. By Michael Steele It’s been almost three years since Russia invaded Ukraine in an attack that shook the world. And while Ukrainians are fighting for their survival and European allies assessing their ability...

It’s time for a pro-democracy opposition to stand up for American ideals. By Michael Steele As Elon Musk charges ahead with his hostile takeover of the federal government, those of us concerned about American democracy cannot wait for a savior. We must stand up and...

The president’s first week has shown he intends to stress-test the guardrails. By Michael Steele and Lynox Norman After just five days in office, President Donald Trump is already stress-testing American democracy. With a series of presidential pardons, executive...

The president-elect’s opposition to the deal undermines his claims to helping the working-class voters who elected him. By Michael Steele and Evan Brechtel President-elect Donald Trump has long promoted an “America First” industrial policy that privileges domestic...

The president-elect is testing democracy, and so far we're not getting a passing grade. By Michael Steele and Evan Brechtel “No one can walk away. We must stay in the fight, every one of us.” That’s what Vice President Kamala Harris told a gathering of young leaders...

JD Vance has been pushed aside by Donald Trump’s new buddy. By Michael Steele President-elect Donald Trump has got to be feeling good right now. His running mate, JD Vance? Not so much. In the weeks since Election Day, Trump has been busy announcing his picks for...

Conservatives who care about the Constitution could decide the election. By Michael Steele and Lynox Norman With just 11 days left until Election Day, Republican voters wary of another four years of Donald Trump in the White House have a crucial role to play. Vice...

The polls can’t capture the procrastinators who aren’t yet engaged in the election. By Michael Steele More than a million Americans have already cast their ballots in the presidential election, but the ones who may prove decisive may not have even started paying...

It's a major moment for both candidates to reshape the terrain of their campaigns. By Michael Steele and Lynox Norman Next week’s debate is a chance for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to define herself and reshape the political terrain for the rest of...

By Michael Steele Harris' aspirational, 37-minute address was a strong contrast to Donald Trump’s 93-minute acceptance speech, as the divide between the two parties became a chasm. The Democratic and Republican national conventions this year may as well have been for...

By Michael Steele The likely Democratic nominee now faces three months of negative ads, blunders and bad luck, just like any other candidate. Democrats have had a remarkable two weeks, as Vice President Kamala Harris has re-energized their hopes for retaining the...

By Michael Steele and Lynox Norman In his third nomination acceptance speech, the former president couldn't decide what tone to take. On Thursday night, my party bent the knee and enthusiastically nominated a man convicted of numerous felonies for president of the...

By Michael Steele The 16-page document reflects the obsessions and quirks of Donald Trump, not the Grand Old Party. In a matter of days, former President Donald Trump’s anti-democracy agenda will most likely be met with thunderous applause as he officially accepts the...

By Michael Steele and Evan Brechtel The response to Hunter Biden’s conviction laid bare the real agenda behind their complaints about Donald Trump’s legal troubles. Republicans have been complaining about the criminal justice system being “weaponized” against Donald...

By Michael Steele and Lynox Norman The party’s embrace of election denial is going to make it harder to win in the future by making it impossible to learn when it loses. Political parties have one purpose: winning elections. Everything they do, from writing platforms...

By Michael Steele and Evan Brechtel The Georgia Republican has vowed to force another vote to eject the speaker of the House. It won't work, and it's hurting the GOP. A small but vocal group of MAGA Republicans has turned the U.S. House into a circus, and Rep....

By Michael Steele and Evan Brechtel The party is making all the wrong moves as it heads into the general election, with consequences for candidates down the ballot. In seven months, Americans will head to the polls to choose the next president. In football terms, it’s...

His hand-picked candidates to lead the party don't show an understanding of what the job actually entails, and the GOP will pay the price. Mar. 15, 2024, 6:00 AM EDT By Michael Steele and Lynox Norman As a real estate developer, Donald Trump loved to put his name on...

In today's Republican Party, even a noncommittal non-endorsement of Trump could be seen as a brave move. Feb. 2, 2024, 6:00 AM EST By Michael Steele and Lynox Norman Even though Donald Trump faces 91 felony counts in four separate criminal cases and a long list of...

America's founders dealt with "mobbish insurgents" by strengthening the democracy. By Michael Steele, MSNBC Opinion Columnist History will not soon forget the 1,500 disgruntled Americans who set out on a cold January morning with the goal of overthrowing our...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 11/22/21 10:01 AM EST The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down and forced many to realize what truly matters — the health and safety of ourselves, our loved ones, first responders and those all around the globe....

Posted to Politics October 03, 2021 by Michael Steele, Ed Towns Despite the differences in our political perspectives as a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a representative who served in the Democratic congressional caucus for three decades, we...

How the Republican Party — my party — has quietly participated in the systematic deconstruction of our republic. By Michael Steele, MSNBC Opinion Columnist Addressing a reunion of Civil War soldiers in 1875, President Ulysses S. Grant predicted that the dividing line...

Republicans are cynically supporting anti-voting measures that will ultimately hurt both parties—and our country. by MICHAEL STEELE AND CARLOS CURBELO MARCH 29, 2021 5:30 AM When John F. Kennedy squared off against Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election, 64...

This Sunday, Trump will rally conservatives to himself, lacing every sentence with political arsenic. By Michael Steele, MSNBC Opinion Columnist By the time he’d left office, former President Donald Trump had successfully sold his “big lie” that the 2020 election was...

Congress, the states and the political parties must all rise to the moment we now find ourselves in. Donna Brazile and Michael Steele Opinion contributors The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol showed democracy itself is threatened, not just from foreign adversaries but...

By Michael Steele, MSNBC Opinion Columnist The Democrats' lead impeachment manager avoided the obvious partisan traps that caused Republicans to shy away from conviction during Trump's first trial. The impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump has begun, and America once...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR  THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL Over 200 years ago, our nation’s Founding Fathers sat down and laid out what would become the most important document in American history. The United...

By Michael Steele, MSNBC Opinion Columnist Joe Biden is offering Republicans unity. Republicans should accept. During his 1796 Farewell Address, President George Washington said: “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in...

MICHAEL STEELE , FORMER GOP CHAIR. NEWSWEEK ON 1/19/21  When insurrectionists and thugs stormed the Capitol on January 6, their attack reverberated pain throughout our republic. Not just because of the power they hoped to exude by invoking fear, but because they tore...

Michael Steele, Opinion contributor. USA TODAY. 12/02/2020 Trump has ignored laws, punished whistleblowers, fired watchdogs, distorted executive powers, wasted taxpayer money and profited off his presidency. Americans turned out for the 2020 elections in numbers not...

By Michael Steele, Opinion Contributor- NBC NEWS. October 20, 2020. America has watched as the Republican Party stopped pursuing its animating principles of freedom and opportunity and instead gave up its voice on things that mattered. I am an American, a conservative...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR , THE HILL— 08/31/20 01:30 PM EDT The 1970s. America was changing. The trials of Watergate and Vietnam were testing the idealism of the 1960s. It may seem strange today, but I was a 17-year-old black kid growing up in DC's...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL — 04/14/20 10:30 AM EDT Are your health, home, and job likely to be safer if you live in a presidential battleground state? Might your life actually depend on it? And by making everyone’s vote count equally, would a...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL— 04/01/20 08:30 AM EDT COVID-19 first appeared a little over three months ago and its spread has been vicious. The virus has a stranglehold on the American health system, the economy and our way of life. In a matter of...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL — 10/17/19 07:00 PM EDT God blesses us with the precious gift of life, and what we do with that gift is the legacy we leave behind. And what a legacy Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) has left for us. Thurgood Marshall once...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL — 09/22/19 08:00 AM EDT Throughout my career in politics, especially as Lt. Gov. of Maryland, health care has been of considerable importance to me, especially the health-care challenges facing minority communities. We...

By SAUL ANUZIS and MICHAEL STEELE, Opinion Contributors, POLITICO, August 28, 2019 Every Colorado voter – Republicans in particular – should think twice about the opportunities and benefits that come from Colorado becoming the 13th jurisdiction to join the National...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL — 04/21/19 09:30 AM EDT Earlier this year I raised concern that many of the lessons that should have been learned from the 2008 financial crisis had not been; and that incoming Chairwoman of the House Financial Services...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL — 04/05/19 09:00 AM EDT No one saw her coming. The 29-year-old New York City bartender and political outsider who decided to call for a “political revolution” got herself elected to Congress as a Democrat last fall and...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL — 02/01/19 11:15 AM EST In 2007 the newly appointed Fed Chair, Ben Bernanke, declared that problems in the subprime mortgage market were so “limited” they would not create “significant spillovers." Within a year, those...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL — 08/28/18 11:00 AM EDT On a hot summer’s day in 2007, presidential candidate John McCain found himself in a bit of pickle: He was stuck at Reagan National airport hoping to catch a flight that would get him to a meet...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL — 07/26/18 09:30 AM EDT In May, the President gave his first major speech on lowering drug prices, making good on his campaign promise to go after drug makers to get lower prices for consumers. Following the speech, the...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL — 07/11/18 11:32 AM EDT “Elections have consequences. I won.” That was President Barack Obama’s response to congressional Republicans in a 2009 White House meeting regarding his economic proposals. If much of what has...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL — 10/26/17 05:00 PM EDT Let’s be clear: There is a difference between disruption and destruction. When any institution becomes static, myopic or just plain out of touch, there is value in disrupting the status...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL - 05/26/17 01:40 PM EDT The American Dream is dying. Or at least that’s how it may feel to millions of Americans priced out of the housing market. Since the 2008 financial crash that led to the Great Recession, middle...

BY MICHAEL STEELE, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR, THE HILL - 05/26/17 01:40 PM EDT Apparently asking Greg Gianforte, the Republican contender in Montana's recent special election, a question about the Congressional Budget Office scoring of the Republican healthcare bill is...