Mitch McConnell Reveals His Feelings On Trump's Future

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn't appear to have much credibility these days, possibly because the public doesn't seem too sure about how he feels about former President Donald Trump, who he just recently excoriated in public following a failed impeachment vote over the Jan. 6 riots.

McConnell's latest flip-flop was triggered by an interview on Fox News, when he was asked whether he would support Trump should he seek to run for president a second time. The senator from Kentucky answered, "The nominee of the party? Absolutely." Given the way he phrased his response, we can only guess that McConnell's decision to support Trump would be conditional, and only if Trump were to win the GOP nomination in 2024. 

While Mitch McConnell didn't mention Donald Trump by name, it is being assumed that the endorsement was for the former president, since Trump is currently leading in the polls. Trump even got a shoutout from Sen. Mitt Romney, who said Trump would win the GOP nomination if things didn't change. But McConnell also said, "there's a lot to happen between now and '24. I've got at least four members, I think, that are 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." 

Mitch McConnell's comments alluding to a Donald Trump endorsement came after a war of words played out in public between him and the former president over the last few weeks. Shortly after the Senate failed to pass the second impeachment motion against Trump because it could not get the needed two-thirds majority, McConnell stood before the Senate to rebuke Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, saying the riot was the result of "... an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters' decision or else torch our institutions on the way out," per CBS.

The speech would have carried more weight if not for its timing — McConnell spoke after he voted against the impeachment, saying it wouldn't be constitutional to convict Trump because he was no longer in office. McConnell also held Trump "practically and morally responsible" for causing the riots to happen, reports CBS. Trump went after McConnell following that speech, calling him a "dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack" in a statement, according to CNN.