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To: scion who wrote (12602)	2/18/2021 5:45:54 AM
From: scion	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12881

McConnell ‘laughed’ at Trump’s blistering attack and plans to ignore former president from now on Donald Trump had called McConnell a ‘dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack’ Namita Singh 4 hours ago independent.co.uk Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell reportedly plans to ignore former president Donald Trump from now on, after a scathing personal attack in which Mr Trump called him a “dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack”. “Mitch McConnell actually laughed about Donald Trump’s statement when he first saw this,” said CNN’s congressional correspondent Manu Raju, citing sources. “Mitch McConnell has no plans to respond. In fact, I’m told by multiple sources that he plans to ignore Donald Trump altogether as he tries to navigate the post-Trump era.” The two Republicans shared a cordial relationship throughout Mr Trump’s presidency, but it soured quickly and publicly after the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Even though Mr McConnell voted to acquit Mr Trump at the Senate impeachment trial, he said from the Senate floor that the former president was “practically and morally responsible” for the riots that had left five people dead. “Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty,” Mr McConnell said. Mr McConnell also penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal defending his decision to acquit Mr Trump while strongly condemning the former president’s conduct, suggesting Mr Trump deserved to be punished but that the process of impeachment was not the appropriate platform to do so once his term was over. Following those comments, Mr Trump issued a lengthy statement attacking the Kentucky Republican. He said: "The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political ‘leaders’ like Senator Mitch McConnell at its helm.” A person involved in the drafting of the statement told Politico that the attack could have been far worse and that the published version was “toned down from the former president’s original comments.” “There was also a lot of repetitive stuff and definitely something about him having too many chins but not enough smarts,” the person said. The exchange between the two Republicans in the aftermath of the impeachment trial has exposed a glaring rift within the GOP, which is hoping to reclaim its Senate majority in 2022. Despite the fallout, in a previous interview with Politico, Mr McConnell clarified that his goal is to support all Republicans who can contribute to a win for the party in 2022, regardless of whether they are favoured by or favour the former president. independent.co.uk

To: scion who wrote (12602)	2/18/2021 4:05:24 PM
From: scion	Respond to of 12881

Mitch McConnell got exactly what he deserved Opinion by Jennifer Rubin Columnist Feb. 18, 2021 at 3:30 p.m. GMT washingtonpost.com You did not need to be an avid political watcher to know that when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) spared former president Donald Trump the indignity of conviction, but then took to the floor to pronounce Trump’s guilt (don’t get me started), it was not going to end well for the two of them. Everyone who has dealt with a cranky toddler knows that if you give in to a temper tantrum, whatever warning you give after the fact is going to fall on deaf ears. After his acquittal, the disgraced former president decried McConnell as a “dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack” (as with “Little Marco,” Trump has an uncanny knack for defining his GOP opponents) and declared: “If Republican senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again.” For all his supposed political savviness, it is hard to understand how McConnell thought, as the New York Times reported he has said in private, that “the impeachment proceedings would make it easier for Republicans to eventually purge Mr. Trump from the party.” The Times also reports that McConnell has “expressed surprise, and mild bemusement, at the hatchet-burying mission made to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Fla., by Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader.” However, McConnell’s own acquittal vote was a far more damaging maneuver if he is trying to shed the shadow of the former president. McConnell never found the right time to break with his party’s authoritarian leader. It was not during the first impeachment. It was not during the weeks in which Trump was bandying about the Big Lie that the election was stolen. It was not during the second impeachment. But, boy is he ever — yes, sir, just you wait — going to be his own man heading into 2022's midterm elections. McConnell insists that “electability — not who supports who — is the critical point.” Sure, just like the facts guided his vote on impeachment (meaning, not at all). Democrats are licking their chops. The “reasonable” Republicans (are there any more beyond the 10 House members who voted for impeachment and the seven senators who voted to convict?) are likely to get pummeled on the ballot. Some will stumble through the primaries, only to find that, like McConnell, they are not wacko enough for the MAGA voters and not independent enough for everyone else. Moreover, as Democrats push forward with an overwhelmingly popular agenda, Republicans are retreating to become the party of “no.” The route of pure obstruction does not make a lot of sense. Axios got hold of a memo from Mike Donilon, a senior adviser to President Biden, telling White House staff just that. Reviewing recent poll numbers, Donilon argued that “by opposing the American Rescue Plan, the GOP is putting itself at odds with a rescue package supported overwhelmingly by the American people,” and added that “opposition to the ARP isn’t political smart or cost-free — it’s politically isolating.” He concluded by saying that now “is not a moment in the country when obstructionism will be rewarded.” Neither will protecting the insurrectionist leader who now faces a raft of civil lawsuits and possibly criminal investigations. McConnell is not the one to put forth a positive, hopeful agenda. He is bent on demonizing Biden as some kind of “socialist.” Well, if Biden passes his robust agenda that delights voters and gets Republican support outside the Beltway, he likely would not care what McConnell calls him. Meanwhile, Biden and the Democrats — observing the flock of Republican senators who are retiring, the sinking popularity of the GOP and the low esteem in which a large majority of Americans hold the former president — will be happy to keep calling McConnell “minority leader.” Indeed, McConnell and his party have never looked so small. Jennifer Rubin Jennifer Rubin writes reported opinion for The Washington Post washingtonpost.com