Mitch McConnell cuts and runs
Mitch McConnell has taken some unusually meaningful steps to distance himself from Donald Trump lately. While any pushback against the Trump agenda is welcome, McConnell deserves no medal of honor. Despite issues and frustrations McConnell has apparently had with Donald Trump over the years, he steadfastly served as one of Trump’s chief enablers, ignoring what he needed to for maximum political gain.
Recently, McConnell voted against Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary (joining only Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins on the GOP side), even though it wouldn’t be enough to prevent the former Fox News host from joining the Trump kakistocracy. McConnell slammed Trump’s tariffs in an op-ed for the Kentucky Courier-Journal in February, calling on fellow Republicans to be “clear-eyed about the full, unadulterated impact of tariffs.” He also spoke out this week against Trump’s decision to pick “amateur isolationists” for senior policy jobs at the Pentagon as well as to fire Gen. Timothy Haugh, the head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, for no apparent reason, according to a report from The Hill.
Perhaps the most defiant move we are now seeing from McConnell is the announcement this week that he is co-sponsoring the bipartisan Trade Review Act, which would limit Trump’s ability to impose new tariffs without getting approval from Congress. This, of course, is in direct response to Trump’s latest unhinged imposition of tariffs that are not only destructive but highly flawed, as the American Enterprise Institute—a conservative think-tank—pointed out.
We’re all old enough to remember when, in October 2017, McConnell stood with Trump at a Rose Garden press conference and pretended everything was as rosy as their surroundings. “We have the same agenda,” McConnell said, emphasizing that they have “been friends and acquaintances for a long time.”
We also can’t forget when, in January 2023, Trump made racist comments about Elaine Chao, McConnell’s wife who served in Trump’s Cabinet, calling her “Coco Chow.” Nevertheless, he persisted. Predictably, McConnell went on to endorse Trump for President last year even though he had claimed Trump was “morally responsible” following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
So, if McConnell now wants to add his voice and efforts to help contain the out-of-control beast that is Trump, then great. However, McConnell is joining the “too little, too late” club. For years, he played an active role propping up Trump’s feet to help him climb the ladder toward authoritarianism. To borrow his own words, McConnell is also among those who are “morally responsibility” for the unprecedented mess and pain that America now faces.
Ron Leshnower is a lawyer and the author of several books, including President Trump’s Month