We the People. The famous first words to the Preamble of the United States Constitution were the core of Michael Steele’s message to his audience Thursday night, during the third week of the Summer Institute’s speaker series.

In his conversation with Vineyard Gazette editor Bill Eville, the political commentator and former Republican National Convention chair told stories about his upbringing and discussed the country’s current state of politics.

He was introduced at the Hebrew Center by co-chair of the speaker series, Jim Dale.

“Tonight, Michael’s take will make all of the upheaval, chaos, alternate facts and nonsense of today make total sense,” said Mr. Dale. “Right, Michael?”

“Working on it,” said Mr. Steele.

Most of the people in the room, Mr. Steele acknowledged, did not vote for the current president. Neither did he, endorsing Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024, despite his longtime Republican affiliation.

Mr. Steele was interviewed by Gazette editor Bill Eville.

Jeanna Shepard

Mr. Steele was interviewed by Gazette editor Bill Eville.

Jeanna Shepard

Still, where we are now, said Mr. Steele, is our own fault.

“At the end of the day, I still take ownership for where we are, even though I didn’t vote for it,” he said. “I have a responsibility to do something about it, because We the People was left to me.”

The question on many audience members’ minds, and the one Mr. Eville posed next, was what to do about it.

“I think we need to understand the power that comes from those three words, and I want us to start using them,” Mr. Steele said.

He spoke about incumbent representatives, urging the audience to look critically at politicians such as Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who voted for cuts to Medicaid despite arguing repeatedly against it.

“Your government is an extension of you,” said Mr. Steele. “You gave them the power that they abuse every damn day when they cut off your SNAP program or your health care program.”

Audience members pressed Mr. Steele to be more specific. One stressed the difficulty of holding people accountable today.

“How do we do that when so much of the electorate is so serially misinformed?” the audience member asked.

Hebrew Center was packed for the talk.

Jeanna Shepard

Hebrew Center was packed for the talk.

Jeanna Shepard

Mr. Steele, who currently hosts MSNBC’s The Weekend morning show and co-hosts The Weeknight, pointed to a “devolved” system of media consumption. While President Trump’s frequent attacks on the media have broken down trust in the press, Mr. Steele also said the media has made it too easy to read a headline and move on.

“I think the way we get back in the game is [by] taking a little bit more ownership of what we’re consuming, and what our friends and family and neighbors are consuming,” Mr. Steele said.

Neighbor-to-neighbor conversations is how we tell stories, inform ourselves and fact check each other, he added.

“I think we have to move ourselves back into that space.”

Other questions ranged from asking for his opinions on term limits for Supreme Court judges, to the future of the filibuster and the future of the Republican party itself.

Mr. Steele said he hopes to see age and term limits created for Supreme Court judges. He also favors a national popular vote, rather then the current electoral college system, and ranked choice voting.

The filibuster should be left alone, he said.

As for the Republican party post-Trump, it is going to look very similar, “only worse,” Mr. Steele said.

“They want the deconstruction of the administrative state to continue,” Mr. Steele said. “They want to tear down the government and rebuild it in their image.”

At the beginning of the talk, Mr. Steele spoke about his upbringing, and the lessons he learned from his mother, Maebell Turner.

“My mother was a woman who was a sharecropper’s daughter, who had a fifth grade education, who never once, never once, told me something ugly about this country,” Mr. Steele said. “She never once looked at me and said, ‘You have no future here.’ So if that generation didn’t give up on us, why have we given up?”

Audience members asked Mr. Steele for hope.

“I’m hopeful when I look at this younger generation,” Mr. Steele said. “I’m hopeful that we the people understand the gravity of this moment, and that you find…the thing that ignites your passion, your love and your commitment to this country. That you’re willing to go stand in a long line next November and vote for it. That’s what I’m hopeful about.”