GOP senators are resisting Trump’s push to ‘depose’ Mitch McConnell: report

No Republican has done more to push the United States’ federal courts — from the U.S. Supreme Court to the lower federal courts — to the hard-right than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. If the High Court overturns Roe v. Wade, McConnell will have played a major role in that. Regardless, former President Donald Trump resents McConnell bitterly and would love to see him ousted as GOP leader in the U.S. Senate. But so far, according to Politico reporters Natalie Allison and Burgess Everett, Trump isn’t having much luck getting McConnell ousted from his leadership role.

In an article published on December 17, Allison and Everett explain, “Despite months of attacks, the Trump-led campaign to depose the Senate minority leader has resulted in firm pledges from just two Republican candidates and no senators, and it has failed to turn up a formidable challenger to run against McConnell. Inside the Capitol, conservative senators shrug at the question, revealing a lack of appetite even among the GOP’s anti-establishment wing and continued strong support for McConnell as leader.”

In Trump’s mind, McConnell committed a cardinal sin when he acknowledged Joe Biden as president-elect in late 2020, and the bad blood between Trump and McConnell only grew after the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building. McConnell voted “not guilty” in Trump’s second impeachment trial, and the Senate minority leader avoids talking about Trump as much as he can. But Trump continues to rail against McConnell.

In a December 16 statement, Trump wrote, “How this guy can stay as Leader is beyond comprehension — this is coming not only from me, but from virtually everyone in the Republican Party. He is a disaster and should be replaced as ‘Leader’ ASAP!”

On Fox News, the ultra-MAGA Tucker Carlson has slammed McConnell as “an instrument of the left” — a statement that someone who really is on the left would find laughable. But according to Allison and Everett, “Anti-McConnell sentiment has yet to become a dominant theme on the campaign trail ahead of 2022 elections. Republican campaign staffers in multiple states said their candidates have so far received only one or two questions at events about their support for McConnell — far short of a rallying cry from the conservative base.”

One pro-Trump GOP senator who is showing no interest in ousting McConnell is Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who told Politico he thinks McConnell is doing “a good job.” And Sen. John Cornyn of Texas was outright dismissive of MAGA Senate candidates who are criticizing McConnell, telling Politico that such theatrics are “designed for an audience of one” — that “audience” being Trump.

Cornyn told Politico, “I’ve been through a few leadership elections here, and I’ve seen a lot of people on the outside try to influence those elections. And I’ve never seen it work because people are making their own evaluation based on a lot of different criteria about who they want their leaders to be.”