A loudmouth, outer-borough, New Yorker, who was scorned in Manhattan and has since fled to Florida, spent the weekend in the Lone Star State in a desperate bid to cling to relevance. He is still a godhead to his cultish base. The cable fascists of the right-wing media sewer extol his autocratic overreach. And his dismal army of mindless sycophants in the House dream of riding his coattails to power in 2024. But Republican institutionalists in the Senate, wIth decades of experience in sharp-elbowed politics, smell blood in the water.
Kevin McCarthy may be a spineless opportunist, eager to kiss the bully’s ring. But in the upper chamber, a man who has seen it all, Mitch McConnell, has declared Trump a paper tiger.
It was a bad week for Trump. His poorly attended Florida rallies point to his weakening grip on the base. On Saturday, his Houston rally had plenty of seats available. And bad weather delayed the event. Which the religious should argue is a sign of God’s disgust at the mango malevolence.
Now Mitch McConnell, who has not talked to Trump in a year, has expressed support for the work of the House 1/6 Committee. In a press conference at the beginning of the week he said, “Well, I’m like you. I read the reports every day. And it’ll be interesting to see what they conclude.” On Thursday, he doubled down during an interview with Spectrum News, in which he said, “It was a horrendous event and I think what they are seeking to find out is something the public needs to know.”
While McConnell is not above trolling Trump, let’s remember that while he called Trump’s 1/6 Brown Shirts ‘thugs’, ‘unhinged’ and a ‘mob’, he voted against impeaching the ring leader. Unlike the emotionally unstable former guy, Mc Connell has the skin of a shark.
For his part, Trump has been throwing brickbats at McConnell ever since Mitch acknowledged the truth that Biden won the election. In February, the election loser issued a statement in which he said, “The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political ‘leaders’ like Senator Mitch McConnell at its helm,” adding, “Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again.”
In April, during a begathon at Mar-a-Lago, Trump piled on. According to a report in Politico, ‘Former President Donald Trump ripped into Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell before a Republican National Committee donor retreat Saturday evening, deriding him as a “dumb son of a bitch.”
Last Sunday, Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington tweeted out a statement calling McConnell a “broken old crow,” while asking why the Republican Senators didn’t vote him out of leadership.
In Trump’s mind, his electoral endorsement guarantees victory while the lack of it consigns the candidate to history’s scrap heap. But like most Trumpian mythology, it doesn’t comport with reality. Sure, some of the candidates he backs win. But that’s what happens when you back favorites. So far, Trump’s Senate picks are not inspiring awe. Sean Parnell in Pennsylvania dropped out of the race in disgrace. Mo Brooks in Alabama is disastrously behind In fund-raising. In Georgia, I sense there are damning skeletons in Herschel Walker’s closet. And in Alaska, Trump’s pick, Kelly Tshibaka, has a mountain to climb to out-primary Linda Murkowski, who remains popular in the state.
McConnell also has a structural advantage over Trump. He controls the Senate campaign purse strings — and he spends money. Trump will flap his gums, but he’s notoriously cheap when it comes to actually contributing cash to someone else’s campaign. Unsurprisingly therefore, no sitting Senator has spoken up against Mitch. And McConnell, if he does choose to run again, doesn’t have to worry about an election for another five years.
For all the sound and fury roiling South Florida and providing the soundtrack for a Texas road trip, the smart money is backing a GOP with McConnell firmly at the helm of the Senate. As for Trump, can he risk losing a presidential election twice? And the popular vote three times? In his favor are favorable new election rules in swing states. And the fact that McConnell would support him, if he becomes the candidate. on the other hand, America’s dimestore wannabe Caesar may discover that Ron DeSantis is his Brutus.
"dimestore wannabe Caesar is poetry, thanks Pitt