“My goal is, in every possible way, to have nominated representatives of the Republican Party who can win in November,” McConnell said by phone. “Some of them may be people the former president likes. Some of them may not be. The only thing that interests me is the eligibility. “
Kentuckian made it clear that “I’m not predicting that the president would support people who couldn’t win. But I think that eligibility – not who supports who – is the critical point.”
The GOP Senate has largely followed McConnell’s guidance over the past five years as Trump’s control over the party has become more intense. McConnell did not comment on the tweets, and therefore neither did most of his Republicans.
His work has become even more complicated in a minority of 50 votes. However, trying to guide Republicans after a presidential defeat is nothing new for McConnell: after the victories of former President Barack Obama, McConnell has turned Republicans into an occasionally brutal and often effective opposition force to Obama’s agenda.
The 78-year-old president now has a similar veto over part of President Joe Biden’s legislative platform. His willingness to plunge into tough primaries, trying to eradicate the kind of candidates that plagued the GOP in 2010 and 2012, is a potent weapon in his dark battle against Trump. But there is no guarantee that he can win.
“As long as there is a leading leader for the party,” is McConnell, said Republican whip Senator John Thune (RS.D.). Trump threatened Thune with a major challenge, making the South Dakotan one of several at the McConnell conference that could face Trump-inspired challenges in red states.
But while McConnell criticized Trump on Saturday for a “shameful abandonment of duty” during the January 6 uprising, he quickly became the type after that and avoided the former president’s controversies. During the interview, McConnell refused to address Democratic criticism that his acquittal / conviction measure was an attempt to do both when it comes to Trump.
And he did not elaborate Saturday’s comments that seemed to suggest that Trump could face criminal prosecution.
“I already said everything I needed to do about it,” was where McConnell left it.
McConnell also declined to say whether, if Trump went to the White House in 2024, he would object: “I’m focused on 22”.
Comments like this are intended to serve as a guide for its members, who are already beginning to classify Biden’s agenda as “extreme left”. It is a strategy that allows Republicans to ignore Trump for a few months, at least.
“We are going to focus on what Biden’s agenda looks like,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), an important McConnell deputy. “This will create some cohesion between the loyal opposition.”
But not everyone listens to the party leader. Just look at Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Who contested the results of the November elections, despite McConnell’s warnings not to force the issue. Or even Senator Lindsey Graham (RS.C.), who plans to meet Trump soon to discuss the future of the party.
So there are about half a dozen senators who seem to be thinking about presidential candidacies, many under the mantle of Trump.
“I don’t know what happens to the party as a whole in terms of people deeply committed to President Trump,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (RW.Va.), who is close to McConnell. “But I hope they stay with us.”
Across the Capitol, Trump supporters think Republican senators are making things difficult, especially the Republican leader. Twice now McConnell openly attacked Trump for spreading electoral conspiracy theories and unleashing the crowd that invaded the Capitol.
McConnell’s vote of absolution is not appeasing Trump supporters, who are getting tired of their rhetorical flourishes about the former president.
“Many people are frustrated with your comments. I’m not going to embellish that, ”said Deputy Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Head of the hardline House Freedom Caucus.
Some House Republicans have argued that McConnell is on an equal footing with its leader, Congressman Kevin McCarthy, although the minority party is essentially irrelevant in the House. McCarthy “leads much more of us” than McConnell, as Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) Said.
Banks chairs the conservative Republican Studies Committee, which has already met with potential presidential candidates like Mike Pompeo. And Banks argued that, with several voices competing to claim the party’s mantle before 2024, the Republican Party does not have a single leader now.
“Right now, we have a lot of leaders,” said Banks. “The void has been filled by many voices.”
“Frankly, our party will be largely guided by how we respond to what Democrats will do,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), A member of the Republican leadership. “A person doesn’t necessarily lead this when you don’t have the White House.”
Some on the right say that Trump’s influence on the GOP is not waning just because he is out of office, thanks to his attraction to the campaign and his ability to make headlines.
“The fact that he is no longer in the White House does not mean that he is not the leader of the movement he started four or five years ago,” said Biggs.
McConnell and Biggs may well find themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum next year in Senate races like Arizona, where a GOP chaired by Ward is struggling to win tough races in what was once a red state. In addition, McConnell said the Senate Republican Party will strongly support all of its incumbents, including Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican who will vote to condemn Trump facing re-election in 2022.
When asked who is running the party now, Murkowski replied, “As much as you can, Senator McConnell.” McConnell just won re-election, giving him six years to chart a course for the Republican Party in the Senate.
Unlike the Senate, many members of the House are elected in non-competitive and confusing districts. This produced a decidedly pro-Trump GOP conference over the years, with more than 120 House Republicans voting to challenge the election results, even after last month’s deadly riots.
In contrast, only eight Senate Republicans voted to challenge the election results.
Still, 10 House Republicans – including GOP Conference President Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) – voted for Trump’s impeachment. Pro-Trump MP Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) Even campaigned against Cheney last month in Wyoming, where he couldn’t resist insulting McConnell as a member of the “system” that is trying to “screw our countrymen for generations.”
McConnell defended Cheney and on Saturday even indicated that he may even be involved in his re-election campaign.
“The future of the party will be determined in places like Wyoming in 1922,” said McConnell.
Trump leaves the Republican Party at a crossroads: it’s hard to imagine that the party’s next two years will be beautiful, given its divisions over Trump’s impeachment, his agenda and how to deal with his extrajudicial challenges to the election. Shortly after Trump’s acquittal, state parties began hammering on Senate Republicans who voted to condemn.
But becoming the leader of the majority is a numbers game and McConnell has a solid start with 50 seats. From that perspective, 2022 doesn’t look so bad to him. Even with all that Trump got the party through, as far as raw power in Congress is concerned, McConnell saw worse.
“The difference between now and 2009 is the difference between 40 and 50,” he said. “I was there in 2009. I know what it looks like after you were defeated. We were not defeated. We lost the White House. “