Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (left) and former President Donald Trump in 2017.Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty
Despite recently speaking out againstDonald Trumpfor hisrole in the riots at the Capitolon Jan. 6, Sen.Mitch McConnellnow says he would back the former president if Trump decides to run in 2024 and clinches the GOP nomination.
The Senate minority leader, 79, toldBret BaierThursday on Baier’sFox NewsSpecial Reportthat he would “absolutely” support Trump, 74, should he be named the Republican nominee during the next presidential election.
However, “There’s a lot to happen between now and ‘24,” and McConnell said he has “at least four members” in the Senate “who areplanning on running for president, plus governors and others.”
“There is no incumbent, [so] it should be a wide-open race and fun for you all to cover,” he told Baier, 50. (According to Punchbowl News, a political news website, McConnell’s aides suggested he might have misheard Baier’s question about supporting Trump.)
McConnell also said that the party has “unified in opposition to this new administration’s extremely progressive approach,” adding that PresidentJoe Biden"has made it quite easy for us to get together."
Despite McConnell’s change in tone, there are fractures among leading Republicans about Trump’s future role.
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Earlier this month, Trump wasacquitted in his unprecedented second impeachment trialafter being charged in January with inciting an insurrection when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol during a joint session of Congress and five people died.
And while McConnellvoted to acquit Trump, the Kentucky senator publicly lambasted the 45th president for his role in the riots.
McConnell later offered another strong rebuke of Trump, saying soon after his acquittal on the Senate floor that “President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen. … He didn’t get away with anything yet.”
“There’s no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morallyresponsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell added then. “The people that stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty
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In an interview withTheNew York Timesthis week, Sen.Mitt Romneyalso talked about Trump’s political future and how he doesn’t think the businessman-turned-politician is going anywhere anytime soon.
One of the most prominent Republicans opposing Trump, Romney, 73, spoke candidly about the paradox of the former president’s role and what it means for other conservatives who have broken with him.
Romney, himself the 2012 Republican nominee for president, continued, “I expect he will continue playing a role. I don’t know if he’ll run in 2024 or not, but if he does I’mpretty sure he will win the nomination.”
Asked if he would campaign against Trump in the future, Romney (who once met with Trump about becoming secretary of state) said hewould “not be voting for President Trump again— I haven’t voted for him in the past — and I would probably be getting behind somebody who I thought more represented the tiny wing of the Republican Party that I represent.”
source: people.com
