Few would dispute that there is any love lost between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and former President Donald Trump. Few would argue McConnell’s political savvy. This brings us to the Wednesday morning announcement when McConnell formally endorsed Trump as president.
Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican Leader, has endorsed Donald Trump as president. This is a stunning turnaround for the man who once criticized the former president’s “disgraceful acts” in the Capitol attack of Jan. 6, 2021, but now supports the bid for him to return to office.
McConnell, the last Republican leader in Congress who sided with Trump after Super Tuesday victories pushed Trump closer to the nomination of the GOP, issued a brief statement expressing his support.
Since 2020, when McConnell announced that Democrat Joe Biden won that year’s Presidential election, the two men hadn’t spoken. More recently, both teams have reopened discussions about an endorsement.
McConnell said in a statement that it was “clearly evident” that former president Trump had earned the support necessary from Republican voters for him to be the nominee of the Republican Party as the next President of the United States.
McConnell announced last Wednesday that he was stepping down as Senate leader in November.
The endorsements may not be the end-all of politics, but they are still important. McConnell’s decision to support Trump’s candidacy despite the animosity between them, along with Nikki Haley suspending her campaign as former South Carolina governor, shows that the Republican establishment has decided it is going all in behind the presumed nominee.