On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) said he would “absolutely” support former President Trump if he won the Republican nomination in 2024.
However, McConnell told “Special Report” host Bret Baier that “there’s a lot to happen between now and ’24. I’ve got at least four members, I think, that is planning on running for president, plus governors and others. There is no incumbent, [so it] should be a wide-open race and fun for you all to cover.”
Baier then asked the senator if he would support Trump if he were to win the Republican party’s nomination for the next presidential election.
The Kentucky Republican replied, “The nominee of the party? Absolutely.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that he would “absolutely” support Donald Trump if he were the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2024.https://t.co/SoTZaZ98zS
— Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) February 26, 2021
It can be remembered that Trump lambasted McConnell after the Senator condemned Trump’s actions during the riot at the U.S. Capitol last January 6. When Baier asked the senator to give comments to Trump’s allegation that the Republican Party could never be respected if leaders such as McConnell continued to be in charge, McConnell replied, “The Republican Party is actually in very good shape.
The Senator added, “We gained seats in the House. We elected 50 Republican senators when everybody was predicting we were going to lose the Senate. The Democrats didn’t flip a single state legislature. We flipped two [and] picked up a governor.”
McConnell also added that the Republican Party had a perfect day on November 3, the election day. “We’re sorry we lost the White House, but the Republican Party demonstrated once again [that] this is a 50/50 nation, we are very competitive and will be competitive again in ’22.”
McConnell responds to Trump's statement attacking him and others in GOP, noting the GOP gained House seats, were projected to lose Congress by huge margins, and the election results showed "this is a 50/50 nation." He added this has set up the GOP to be "competitive" in 2022 pic.twitter.com/rtcCgYYmlQ
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 25, 2021
In addition to this, McConnell also dismissed speculation that there is an ongoing civil war within the Republican party, stating that the real disunity list with House Democrats.
He said, “The progressives make it extremely difficult for Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi to operate given the narrow margin she has overall in the House.”
However, according to McConnell, he thinks the Biden administration is making it easy for them to get together. He said, “I think we’ve unified in opposition to this new administration’s extremely progressive approach. President Biden has made it quite easy for us to get together.”
The interview was ended with a question to McConnell. Baier asked him for his message to Trump supporters who might be concerned about the future of the Republican Party.
McConnell said, “I would say to everybody who’s inclined to support our right-of-center Republican Party, let’s focus on winning the house and the Senate in ’22,” He continued, “That will set up the next nominee for president, whoever that may be, [with] the best chance to be victorious.”
McConnell is currently standing as the de facto leader of the Republican Party in the next two years, as the former president now stays low in Florida with no public platform.
McConnell made clear in a Saturday interview he will not hesitate to wade into future primary races if a Trump-backed candidate-like, say, @kelliwardaz in AZ or the former president's daughter-in-law in NC-threatens his bid to retake the majority.https://t.co/Dj22HJzUdZ @politico
— YvonneWingettSanchez 🏜 (@yvonnewingett) February 16, 2021
To become a majority leader for McConnell, he needs to pick up one more Senate seat. But McConnell made clear in an interview that he will not hesitate to wallow into future political races if the Trump-backed candidate, for instance, Kelli Ward in Arizona or Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara in North Carolina, threatens his attempt to retake the majority.
McConnell said, “My goal is, in every way possible, to have nominees representing the Republican Party who can win in November.” He continued, “Some of them may be people the former president likes. Some of them may not be. The only thing I care about is electability.”
The Kentuckian made clear that “I’m not predicting the president would support people who couldn’t win. But I do think electability — not who supports who — is the critical point.”
