President Donald Trump has told former Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that he is “mentally unequipped.” Nominated in just a few months.
“In my opinion, he was mentally unequipped 10 years ago,” Trump told White House reporters. McConnell refused to vote in favor of confirming his controversial Health and Human Services (HHS) pick, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“He’s a very bitter guy,” Trump added McConnell.
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The GOP’s most recent Senate leader has opposed his meetings many times, indicating a major transformation of the party during Trump’s era. (Reuters)
This shift from GOP leaders to rebellious Republicans may be optically offensive, but the move is the case with former Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid and the Senate Democrat Caucus. It wasn’t surprising to Jim Manley, a former senior communications advisor and spokesman.
“He’s been living on borrowed times over the last few years,” he told McConnell’s Fox News Digital. Manly speculated that if he had not decided to voluntarily step down from leadership before the 119th Congress, he would have had serious problems re-elected. “[I]He made it clear how precisely it is to be with the Caucus,” he said.
In the past few weeks, McConnell has overthrew his party with three key Senate votes against Trump’s most vulnerable cabinet candidate. The nomination of Defense Secretary Pete Hegses was confirmed by a thin margin of 51-50 razors after Vice President J.D. Vance was called to break the tie.
Tarshi Gabbard was sworn in the White House hours after the Senate confirmation
McConnell and Trump had a spine-like relationship. (Reuters)
Moderate GOP Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and R-Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski joined him to oppose the controversial defensive pick.
But McConnell was the only Republican to vote against the equally controversial National Intelligence Agency (DNI) nominees Tarsi Gabbard and HHS Pick Kennedy. Collins, Markovsky, and even several other senators with a reputation for being somewhat hesitant, have come behind them.
“If Senator McConnell was trying to accelerate the deterioration of his legacy as a former Republican senator, he would have been successful,” a Senator GOP source said. They described the Kentucky Republican actions as “an attempt to embarrass the president and the Republicans” and “proof of why he was no longer suited to lead our meeting.”
McConnell issued a lengthy statement following each vote, explaining his reasoning. He also wanted each of them well and promised to work with them.
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Hegseth was confirmed after JD Vance voting a tiebreaker vote. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)
McConnell, the defence officer and chair of the Defense Defense Subcommittee, was not convinced that Hegus or Gabbard was the best national security choice.
As for Kennedy, McConnell recalls his childhood experiences with polio and touts the effectiveness of the vaccine.
McConnell voted for Trump’s other, less contradictory, lesser-known cabinet candidate.
Republican strategist Matt Doll called the former leader “a mystery.”
“[H]When he was the leader, he tried to control the Republican Caucus with iron fists,” he pointed out.
“It sets his own, lonely vote as worse.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Rs.D., who succeeds McConnell. responded to a “NO” vote in an interview with Fox News Digital. “He knows how hard it is to lead a place like the US Senate than anyone else, pay 60 votes to get most of it done, and you’ve come to function as a team. I think that’s what it is,” he said.
According to Thune, McConnell said, “He’s still active here and has strong voices on issues he’s passionate about, including national security, so when it comes to those issues, he has a great influence and I’ve been All of us are paying attention.”
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Thune took over McConnell as Senate GOP leader. (Reuters)
He said that the meetings do not necessarily agree with him, but “We respect these his positions, some of these are [nominations]and a lot of big things in front of us know that he is with us. He is a team player. ”
One of the former Senate top Republican strategists explained that at this point the former leader “doesn’t lose anything.” In fact, they said the feelings he expresses about Trump’s most controversial choices actually reflect the feelings of many other senators. But they cannot oppose themselves “for fear of retaliation by Trump or key voters that will make a difference in whether they will take power or not.”
“Not falling into leadership can be very liberating,” added GOP strategist John Feehery.
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“I think he wants to make a symbolic statement in favor of the older types of conservatism from the Reagan era and the more traditional Republican Party,” according to Grant Leher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University. This is the way he wants to remember.”
McConnell’s office declined to comment on Fox News Digital.
Julia Johnson is a political writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business and is a major reporter in the US Senate. She was previously a political reporter for the Washington Examiner.
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