What with the pace of the modern news cycle, it can be difficult to remember things that happened 36 hours ago, let alone two weeks back. So, just as a reminder, on February 13, 2021—i.e. 13 days ago—Mitch McConnell gave a speech on the Senate floor in which he declared for all the world to hear that in his opinion, there was “no question—none—that President Trump [was] practically and morally responsible for provoking” the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill. (In response, Trump called McConnell “dour, sullen, and unsmiling,” adding that he lacks “political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality,” after advisers apparently convinced him to cut a line re: the minority leader having an excess of “chins” and a lack of brain cells.) Knowing this, you might think that McConnell would refrain from enthusiastically backing a potential 2024 run for the White House by Trump or hell, even say something like, “This man should never, and I mean never, be allowed near the halls of power again.” But of course, that would fail to take into account the fact that McConnell is a partisan hack with no capacity for shame, which is why he’s naturally already backed a bid for office by the guy who he believes was wholly responsible for a violent insurrection.
Speaking to Fox News on Thursday night, McConnell told Bret Baier that he would 100% support Trump if the ex-president was the GOP’s nominee in 2024. While maintaining that the Republican primary will be a “wide-open race,” with “at least four members members“ who he thinks are planning on running “plus some governors,” when pressed by Baier if he would support Trump as the nominee of the party McConnell answered, “The nominee of the party? Absolutely.”
While McConnell ultimately voted to acquit Trump earlier this month, he called the 45th president’s actions “a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.” Later, when he was criticized for letting Trump get away with it all, the lawmaker published an op-ed in the pages of The Wall Street Journal swearing that the only reason he voted to acquit was because he was bound by the Constitution, and not because he believed Trump was innocent, suggesting that Trump could and should be subject to criminal prosecution.
While Trump has not said if he will run again, and will very likely tease a decision until the last second in typical reality-TV form, even his critics see him making it to the general election should he decide to terrorize the country again. “I’m pretty sure he will win the nomination,” Mitt Romney told The New York Times this week. On Sunday, Trump is scheduled to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, where he’ll no doubt spend the majority of his allotted time going after perceived enemies and lying about his role in the Capitol attack.
But hey, why not back Trump’s (potential) bid for more power? Mitch McConnell, for one, apparently can’t think of a single reason not to!
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