McConnell's exit haunted by poisonous relationship with Trump
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Trump allies rejoiced at news that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will step down in November, viewing his departure as the final step to unlocking a total MAGA takeover of the Republican Party.
Why it matters: McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in U.S. history, has not spoken to former President Trump since the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. He has declined to endorse Trump in the 2024 race, even as allies of the two GOP titans have worked to mend the relationship behind the scenes.
- McConnell, who has found himself increasingly at odds with pro-Trump members of his conference, appeared to acknowledge Wednesday that his influence was waning in the MAGA-dominated GOP.
- "Believe me, I know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time. I have many faults. Misunderstanding politics is not one of them," the 82-year-old leader said on the Senate floor.
Flashback: Despite his establishment views on foreign policy and traditional Republican priorities, McConnell maintained a strong working relationship with Trump until the very end of the former president's term.
- McConnell viewed Trump as a vessel for conservative policy, and together the two men confirmed three Supreme Court justices and hundreds of judges — reshaping the federal judiciary for a generation.
- McConnell was an essential ally in Trump's successful effort to pass sweeping tax cuts — and his unsuccessful effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which failed by just one vote in the Senate.
The unlikely, but cordial alliance unraveled after Trump's refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.
- On Jan. 6, after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the certification of President Biden's victory, McConnell condemned Trump for inciting the violence.
- "The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people," McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor.
Between the lines: A month later, McConnell voted to acquit Trump in his Senate impeachment trial, which could have seen the former president barred from future elected office.
- The GOP leader called Trump "morally responsible" for the violence and accused him of a "disgraceful dereliction of duty," but argued that a former president could not face trial in the Senate.
- McConnell also suggested Trump could still be subject to criminal and civil penalties — foreshadowing indictments that Republicans now claim amount to the weaponization of justice by the Biden administration.
Zoom in: Over the past year, McConnell has repeatedly refused to weigh in on the GOP primary or Trump's various incendiary comments, including his racist attacks on McConnell's wife, former Commerce Secretary Elaine Chao.
- But Trump's influence on the Senate GOP has become impossible to ignore: just this month, McConnell was forced to abandon a bipartisan border security bill that he supported after Trump intervened against it.
- Trump and McConnell's diametric views on supporting Ukraine — which the outgoing GOP leader sees as a legacy-defining issue — have left the fate of U.S. military aid hanging in the balance.
