Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell waited until every other GOP presidential candidate exited the race, but now that his party has settled on a presidential nominee, the Kentucky Republican has endorsed Donald Trump’s candidacy. His statement read in part:
“It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States. It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support. During his Presidency, we worked together to accomplish great things for the American people including tax reform that supercharged our economy and a generational change of our federal judiciary — most importantly, the Supreme Court.”
The fact that this isn’t surprising doesn’t make it any less pitiful.
Let’s take a stroll down memory lane.
It was during Trump’s first year in the White House that the new president looked to McConnell as someone who would simply take orders and make Trump’s problems go away. When the senator tried to explain how government worked, a “profane shouting match” soon followed.
But it was after Trump’s defeat that the relationship collapsed. McConnell had the audacity to accept the results of his own country’s elections and criticize Trump for failing to do the same, at which point the former president started condemning the GOP leader as a corrupt “hack.”
Things seemed to culminate on Feb. 13, 2021, in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s second impeachment trial, when McConnell delivered memorable floor remarks, condemning Trump’s “disgraceful dereliction of duty” on Jan. 6. The Senate minority leader added, “There is no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day. No question about it.”
In the same speech, McConnell called out Trump for his “crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole ... orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out.”
The Kentucky senator went on to raise the prospect of Trump facing civil and/or criminal penalties for his obvious misconduct.
Two weeks later, McConnell appeared on Fox News and was asked whether he’d support Trump’s 2024 candidacy, if the former president again ran as the Republican nominee.
“Absolutely,” McConnell replied.
In the months that followed, the former president waged an unsubtle campaign against the Kentucky Republican, all but begging GOP senators to replace the longtime lawmaker as their leader. He also said McConnell “has a DEATH WISH” for disagreeing with Trump’s legislative strategies, and went on to tell The New York Times, on the record, that he consider McConnell to be “a piece of s---.”
Trump was just as aggressive in going after the GOP leader’s wife, former cabinet secretary Elaine Chao, with racist taunts and dubious allegations of corruption.
Given all of this, common sense might suggest that McConnell would never back Trump, if for no other reason than to preserve his own dignity. And yet, here we are.
A couple of years ago, McConnell sat down with reporter Jonathan Swan, who asked whether there were any “moral red lines” that would lead the senator to withhold his support from a Trump-led ticket.
“As a Republican leader of the Senate, it should not be a front-page headline that I will support the Republican nominee for president,” McConnell replied, adding, “I think I have an obligation to support the nominee of my party, and I will.”
When Swan pressed on, asking if there’s anything Trump could possibly do that would be a bridge too far, McConnell appeared visibly frustrated. “I don’t get to pick the Republican nominee for president,” he replied. “They’re elected by the Republican voters.”
In other words, asked about his “moral red lines,” the Kentuckian conceded that such lines effectively do not exist, at least insofar as electoral politics is concerned.
A year later, after Trump targeted McConnell’s wife again, the Senate minority leader again said he’d support his party’s nominee, “no matter who that may be.”
The senator’s list of concerns starts and ends with the Republican Party’s pursuit of power. In case that wasn’t already obvious before, it’s obvious now.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.