the.com/power broker
Doesn't hold the office, just decides who gets to.
means A person who wields influence behind the scenes, trading favors and votes to decide who gets power — without ever holding it themselves.
from A 20th-century American coinage welded from two plain words: 'power,' the thing being traded, and 'broker,' the middleman who arranges deals for a cut — originally someone who brokered wine or goods, from Anglo-Norman 'brocour.' The term caught on in mid-1900s U.S. politics to describe party bosses and lobbyists who didn't run for office but decided who could win one, swapping endorsements and favors like currency.
- owns no vote
- yet controls how everyone else casts theirs
- best asset
- a phone number everyone returns the call for
- job security
- survives the politicians who think they hired them