Tag: Mitch McConnell

Lindsay Graham’s friends worry about how he’s changed as he jockeys for the crown in a pro-Trump GOP

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In a profile of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in the Washington Post, close associates of the GOP lawmaker state that he is going “all in” to continue to support former President Donald Trump and set himself up as the leader of the Trump wing of the party and that has some of them wondering what has happened to him.

While Trump’s influence with the GOP appears to be dissipating — with a battle with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for control of the party about to take center stage according to Politico — Graham is throwing in with the ex-president, speaking with him almost daily and wrangling invites to Mar-a-Lago for weekends of golf.

“Graham’s post-presidential embrace of Trump — which puts him squarely at odds with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — is the latest twist in his on-again, off-again relationship with a man he once called a ‘kook’ and warned could destroy the party,” the Post report states. “It comes after the four-term senator said he reviewed polling in South Carolina and across the country that shows Trump’s enduring strength among Republicans, even after the Jan. 6 insurrection that resulted in five deaths.” Continue reading.

‘I don’t think he cares about winning’: McConnell ally realizes Trump is all ‘about himself’

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and former President Donald Trump exchanged barbs this week as their feud deepened. But some GOP strategists have realized that Trump may just be in it for himself, the Associated Press reported.

The conversation for the last several years from analysts has been about Trump’s selfishness, as the Milwaukee Independent described it, or his constant need for self-promotion, as biographer David Cay Johnston explained. 

Leading GOP strategists described the exploding feud between the former Republican president and the Senate’s most powerful Republican as, at best, a distraction and, at worst, a direct threat to the party’s path to the House and Senate majorities in next year’s midterms. Continue reading.

McConnell shows that legacies don’t matter when facts no longer do

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It’s easier to rewrite history than reckon with it.

So that’s what more than a few Republicans have decided to do. They have been loose with facts and impenetrable to truth. And they have been unconcerned with their legacy. Reverence for one’s legacy was supposed to be the safety valve, the narcissistic self-defense mechanism that also has the effect of offering salvation to others. The guardrails are gone.

The country has been at war with the truth for some time. So in many ways, it’s not surprising that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has begun to peddle the false notion that the would-be insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 wasn’t actually an “armed” attempt to stop the certification of the presidential election. He apparently requires a full arsenal of confiscated artillery — rather than an assortment of bats, metal poles, bear spray and various projectiles — before being willing to acquiesce to the accuracy of the term. And it was inevitable that some supporters of the former president would argue without evidence that antifa — a loosely knit group of far-left activists — was behind the Capitol riot, rather than his followers. Continue reading.

McConnell shows that legacies don’t matter when facts no longer do

Washington Post logo

It’s easier to rewrite history than reckon with it.

So that’s what more than a few Republicans have decided to do. They have been loose with facts and impenetrable to truth. And they have been unconcerned with their legacy. Reverence for one’s legacy was supposed to be the safety valve, the narcissistic self-defense mechanism that also has the effect of offering salvation to others. The guardrails are gone.

The country has been at war with the truth for some time. So in many ways, it’s not surprising that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has begun to peddle the false notion that the would-be insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 wasn’t actually an “armed” attempt to stop the certification of the presidential election. He apparently requires a full arsenal of confiscated artillery — rather than an assortment of bats, metal poles, bear spray and various projectiles — before being willing to acquiesce to the accuracy of the term. And it was inevitable that some supporters of the former president would argue without evidence that antifa — a loosely knit group of far-left activists — was behind the Capitol riot, rather than his followers. Continue reading.

Trump unloads on McConnell, promises MAGA primary challengers

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Former President Trump on Tuesday unloaded on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and vowed to back challengers to lawmakers who have crossed him.

In a statement released through his Save America super PAC, Trump blamed McConnell for the GOP’s 2020 Senate losses and called for Republicans to elect new leaders to carry on his legacy.

“Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again,” Trump said. Continue reading.

McConnell would have happily considered finding Trump guilty, were it not for Mitch McConnell

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You could feel it coming, the unseeable tsunami on its way as you watched the water receding from the bay.

“There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking” the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Saturday, shortly after the majority of his Republican caucus voted against convicting the former president in his second impeachment trial. “No question about it. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president. And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth.”

Boats were left stranded as the sea withdrew. McConnell himself had voted against convicting Trump, so all of his rhetoric about the former president’s culpability was clearly leading to that most political of words: But. Continue reading.

McConnell unloads on Trump: ‘Morally responsible’ for provoking mob

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Saturday unleashed blistering criticism of former President Trump, blaming him for sparking the attack on the Capitol while also explaining why he didn’t vote for a conviction.

McConnell also suggested that Trump could face criminal prosecution for his actions.

“There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people that stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president,” McConnell said. Continue reading.

Schumer, McConnell reach deal on Trump impeachment trial

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Senate leadership announced on Monday that they have reached a deal on the framework for former President Trump‘s impeachment trial, which will start on Tuesday.

“For the information of the Senate, the Republican leader and I, in consultation with both the House managers and Former President Trump’s lawyers, have agreed to a bipartisan resolution to govern the structure and timing of the impending trial,” Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said from the Senate floor. 

“All parties have agreed to a structure that will ensure a fair and honest Senate impeachment trial of the former president,” Schumer said. Continue reading.

Schumer, McConnell reach deal on Senate organizing resolution

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Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have reached a deal on the organizing resolution for running a 50-50 Senate.

“I am happy to report … that the leadership of both parties have finalized the organizing resolution for the Senate,” Schumer announced from the Senate floor.

“We will pass the resolution through the Senate today, which means that committees can promptly set up and get to work with Democrats holding the gavels,” Schumer added. Continue reading.

Senate Republicans move against ‘nutty’ House member in widening GOP rift

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A growing number of Republicans took sides Tuesday in a brewing House battle over the shape of the GOP after the Donald Trump presidency, amplifying pressure on Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as he decides this week whether to sideline conspiracy theorists and secure a place for anti-Trump voices in party leadership.

Leading the charge was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who made an unusual detour into the other chamber’s affairs by denouncing the extremist rhetoric of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene while offering a gesture of support for Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 House GOP leader, who voted last month to impeach Trump.

He was joined Tuesday by several other Republican lawmakers, as well as pillars of the conservative establishment, who together warned that sidelining Trump critics from the party while tolerating purveyors of social-media-driven paranoia would spell long-term disaster — a “cancer for the Republican Party and our country,” as McConnell put it. Continue reading.