As of: March 7, 2024, 12:40 p.m
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After Nikki Haley's exit from the election campaign, the Republican faction leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, is supporting Donald Trump - despite a personal feud.
Washington, DC - Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, endorsed Donald Trump for president on Wednesday (March 6), further cementing Trump's hold on the Republican Party.
There had previously been tension between the two men for years.
“It is abundantly clear that former President Trump received the necessary support from Republican voters to be nominated for president of the United States,” McConnell said in a statement to The
Washington Post
.
“It should come as no surprise that he will have my support as a candidate.
During his presidency, together we accomplished great things for the American people, including tax reform that boosted our economy and generational change in the federal judiciary - most notably the Supreme Court.
I look forward to the opportunity to move from defending against the Biden administration’s terrible policies to a sustained offensive focused on truly improving the lives of the American people.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell returns to his office on February 28 after announcing that he will resign as Senate Republican leader at the end of the year.
© Craig Hudson/The Washington Post
After Nikki Haley's withdrawal: McConnell announces support for Trump
McConnell, who has announced he will step down as party leader in November, is one of the most influential Republicans in Washington supporting Trump.
The endorsement was a notable, if expected, move from the Kentucky Republican.
He has held back in recent weeks as other Republicans lined up behind Trump, including many who originally wanted a different candidate, and his support means that nearly every powerful cog in the Republican machine is right behind the former president.
McConnell announced his support as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced Wednesday morning that she would suspend her campaign, leaving Trump without key opponents.
McConnell's move is likely to have little impact among Trump's supporters, but it could sway Republican donors close to McConnell to support Trump - and his words could matter to some of Trump's critics in the party.
McConnell also faced pressure from some Republicans to support Trump, although people close to him said most of his supporters and allies were not clamoring for such a move.
Biden called McConnell a "friend" in a recent statement, and the two men have spoken occasionally.
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Republican change before the US election: McConnell no longer wanted to mention Trump's name
A Trump adviser said he welcomed the support and the campaign believed it could help with some donors and Republicans.
Donald Trump must unite the Republican Party behind him: Haley lost overwhelmingly to Trump, but received 30 or 40 percent of the vote in many states.
Many of their supporters are currently unwilling to support the former president, which could cause problems for him in the general election, polls show.
McConnell has mocked Trump privately, attacked him publicly for his role in fomenting the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, suggested that the court system could deal with Trump, and has not spoken to Trump in several years.
People close to McConnell said after Trump's presidency that the powerful Kentucky Republican had no plans to mention Trump's name again.
Trump had publicly insulted McConnell several times
“There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” McConnell said after Jan. 6.
In a speech on the Senate floor explaining his decision not to convict Trump at his impeachment trial, he added that Trump "hasn't gotten away with anything yet."
Trump has mocked McConnell's wife for her Asian American heritage and frequently referred to McConnell as a "Broken Down Crow" and other derogatory terms.
The former president has told aides that he wants to replace McConnell as Senate Republican leader if elected.
But McConnell has already announced his resignation.
In a speech to donors at his Mar-a-Lago club in 2021, Trump called McConnell a "stupid son of a bitch."
Trump and McConnell: New “detente policy” in the election year?
But in recent months, the two men have pursued a policy of détente: Trump has not attacked McConnell, and Trump adviser Chris LaCivita and McConnell adviser Josh Holmes have been talking about the possibility of support for several months, as the
New York Times
first reported.
McConnell, who confirmed hundreds of judges and three Supreme Court justices during Trump's presidency, is in many ways a ruthlessly pragmatic politician.
While the two men were never personally close, they worked together on certain initiatives during Trump's time in office;
McConnell often defended Trump.
In a 2022 interview, he said that his ambition was to move the country "right of center" and that he had worked closely with Trump, and especially with Trump's appointees, to achieve exactly that.
McConnell blamed Trump for the storming of the Capitol
“Trump will be elected.
I'm shocked.
I am absolutely shocked.
When I found out he won, the first thing that came to mind was the Supreme Court," McConnell said in a 2022 interview. But he criticized Trump primarily for his role in the Jan. 6 attack .
“I'm pleased that this man has finally completely discredited himself,” McConnell told Jonathan Martin, one of the authors of the book “This Will Not Pass,” when asked about his feelings in the immediate aftermath of Jan. 6.
Trump, the Kentucky Republican said, “has been pretty thoroughly discredited by this.”
“He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger,” McConnell said after midnight at an entrance to the Capitol.
“It couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
To the author
Josh Dawsey
is a political enterprise and investigations reporter at The
Washington Post
.
He has worked for the newspaper since 2017 and previously covered the White House.
Previously, he covered
the White House for
Politico
and covered New York City Hall and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for the
Wall Street Journal .
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on March 6, 2024 at “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.