OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has had a rocky relationship with former President Donald Trump from day one.
When he wanted to get things done in the Senate he loved Trump. And when he wanted to win his Senate campaign he touted the former president’s endorsement.
But when it was opportunistic to attack the former president to score points with the media, that is precisely what McConnell did and has done.
But he still appears to be terrified of the power that the former president maintains in the Republican Party because after Trump took a swipe at Sen. McConnell’s wife, calling her “crazy” the Senate Minority Leader was no knight in shining armor.
“Why do Republicans Senators allow a broken down hack politician, Mitch McConnell, to openly disparage hard working Republican candidates for the United States Senate. This is such an affront to honor and to leadership. He should spend more time (and money!) helping them get elected, and less time helping his crazy wife and family get rich on China!” the former president said on his Truth Social account this weekend.
A reporter pressed Sen. McConnell this week, “Do you have any reaction to what former President Trump said about your wife over the weekend?” to which the Senate Minority Leader simply responded “No.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell asked if he has any reaction to Trump calling his wife Elaine Chao “crazy”:
“No.” pic.twitter.com/1ZATnYv9V5
— The Recount (@therecount) August 23, 2022
It came after Sen. McConnell insinuated that candidates backed by the former president are going to cost the Republican Party its chance of winning back the Senate in the midterms.
The Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway has taken Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to task.
In a column published Friday, Hemingway cited the Kentucky Republican for appearing to downplay the chances of Republican Senate candidates, some of whom are backed by former President Donald Trump, while others suggested that McConnell’s feud with the former president is affecting his judgment.
In her column, titled, “Come On, Mitch McConnell, Republicans Need You To Step Up And Lead,” Hemingway writes that as the party’s leader in the upper chamber, he “has an obligation to immediately and dramatically improve his performance” — namely, get out front now and work to get all Senate GOP candidates elected, especially during a midterm where President Joe Biden and his Democratic Party have presided over record inflation, high gas prices, and a chaotic and porous southwestern border, among other issues — all of which have combined to sink Biden’s approval rating to historic lows.
Hemingway noted that McConnell criticized the “quality” of some Senate candidates in states where Trump has offered his endorsement.
“I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different, they’re statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome,” McConnell said on Thursday when asked about Republican chances of taking back control of the upper chamber.
“Right now, we have a 50-50 Senate and a 50-50 country, but I think when all is said and done this fall, we’re likely to have an extremely close Senate, either our side up slightly or their side up slightly,” he added at an event in his home state, per The Hill.
That led Hemingway to ask in her column: “What was McConnell thinking? What in the world was he thinking?”
She adds:
Unnecessarily ceding an incredibly winnable Senate to Democrats three months before an election is a great example of the leadership choices that have led McConnell to be the least popular national politician in the country, according to the RealClearPolitics average. And it’s a good example of why so many Republicans — grateful as they may be for his successes — think it’s time for new leadership.
Still, for the time being, McConnell is the top elected Republican, and he has an obligation to effectively lead the Republican team, respecting the voters and who they have chosen.
In this case, having a nearly opposite response about Republican prospects rather than the pouty and clinical one McConnell offered would have been strategically and politically wise. It also would have matched much more with the reality of the political environment.
Hemingway then went on to list several examples as to why Republicans look to be in good shape to retake the Senate despite McConnell’s less-than-enthusiastic remarks.
“Of the 14 Senate seats that are in contention, two are considered safe for Democrats, one leans Democrat, two are considered safe for Republicans, one leans Republican, and the remaining eight are toss-ups, according to polling averages,” she wrote.
Hemingway then noted that 18 months into total Democrat control of the legislative and executive branches, “by nearly every measure the results of their political control are utterly disastrous.”
“Consumer confidence has cratered. War with nuclear powers is dangerously close in at least two parts of the world. The economy should be roaring out of the pandemic, but it’s returned to Obama-era sluggishness or worse. Woke mobs are completing their destruction of the country’s institutions. Democrats are persecuting political opponents with their deeply unpopular J6 star chamber,” she wrote.
