Report: Trump Is Trying to Oust Mitch McConnell Like the Vindictive Sociopath He Is

When we last checked in on Donald Trump’s feud with Mitch McConnell, things had gotten increasingly ugly. After four years of tolerating each other based on a mutual understanding that it would be in the best interest of their individual quests to amass as much power as possible, the two men had seemingly decided that their little axis of evil was no longer serving them, and that the other should go to hell. Despite voting to acquit Trump for inciting the January 6 mob, McConnell subsequently said that there was “no question…that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.” That elicited a statement from the ex-president in which he dubbed McConnell “dour, sullen, and unsmiling” and lacking in “political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality,” adding, “He doesn’t have what it takes, never did, and never will.” (An earlier draft apparently included an aside about the Kentucky lawmaker “having too many chins but not enough smarts,” according to Politico.) Later, McConnell suggested that the GOP was done with the 45th president, telling Fox News: “We’re looking to the future, not the past. And if you want to see the future of the Republican Party, watch [Senator] Tim Scott… He’s the future. That’s where we’re headed. We’re not preoccupied with the past, but looking forward.” And several months later, it appears the two have not patched things up!

The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Bender and Lindsay Wise report that Trump has been attempting to recruit allies to “depose Mr. McConnell” of his leadership position in the Senate, which he has held for a record eight terms. In a recent interview, the ex-president said McConnell should be taken out like yesterday’s trash, saying, “he’s very bad for the Republican Party.” In addition to having wildly disparate takes on the events of the 2020 election—Trump thinks he won it, McConnell thinks Joe Biden did—the two men have also diverged on policy this year, with the Senate minority leader joining 18 Republicans in voting yes on a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, and Trump claiming the deal “[made] the Republicans look weak, foolish, and dumb.”

Unfortunately for the most petty, vindictive president in U.S. history, it seems McConnell’s position within the party is safe for now. Per The WSJ:

Mr. McConnell declined to comment. But his grip on the party’s 50 senators appeared steadfast. “Naw, I’m not going to get in that fight,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R., Ala.), one of Mr. Trump’s top allies in the Senate. Mr. McConnell, he added, “is doing a good job.” Sen. John Kennedy equated the former president’s odds of ousting Mr. McConnell to that of a donkey learning to fly. “I just don’t realistically see that happening,” said Mr. Kennedy, a Republican facing re-election next year in Louisiana and one of Mr. Trump’s confidants in the Senate. Mr. Trump’s endorsed candidates haven’t echoed his call to remove Mr. McConnell from power [either]. Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama and Pennsylvania’s Sean Parnell—both locked in competitive primaries for U.S. Senate seats—didn’t respond to requests for comment about Mr. McConnell and whether they would accept help from political-action committees tied to the Republican leader…. A spokesman for the Senate campaign of Rep. Ted Budd (R., N.C.) said he would “welcome the support of anyone or any group who shares” his vision for the Republican party, but wouldn’t address whether Mr. Budd would support Mr. McConnell for leader.

Lindsey Graham, who has suggested there is literally nothing Trump could do that would get the Senator from South Carolina to turn on him, told The Journal that McConnell had been essential to Trump’s legislative record (tax cuts, etc.). But since reason and logic are not part of Trump’s process, he will undoubtedly keep up his attacks on McConnell for all eternity.

As for McConnell’s shading of the ex-president, though it’s great to see someone, anyone, calling Trump a has-been who shouldn’t be allowed within 1,000 feet of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it’s important to remember that the Senate minority leader is a shameless hack who famously has no principles, and should he decide he needs Trump to hang on to power, will no doubt come crawling right back. We know this because (1) the part about him being a longtime shameless hack and (2) back in February, shortly after insisting that Trump was responsible for the Capitol attack, he said that he would “absolutely” support the guy if he was the GOP’s 2024 nominee.

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