Michael Steele, tell us what you really think. Steele, Chair of the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011 has made no secret of his disdain for Donald Trump and anybody who supports him, has become increasingly strident in his condemnations of Republicans. 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.”