Revocation of Senate Leader Mitch McConnell on Donald Trump’s candidacy for the presidency

Less than a month after criticizing Donald Trump in a searing speech on the floor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday (US time) that he would “absolutely” back the former president again if he secured the nomination. Republican in 2024.

The Kentucky Republican told Fox News that there is still “a lot to happen between now” and the next presidential election.

“I have at least four members that I think are planning to run for president, plus governors and others,” McConnell said.

“There is no headline. It should be an open race.”

But when asked directly whether he would back Trump if he won the nomination, McConnell replied, “The party’s nominee? Absolutely.”

McConnell’s comments underscore an uneasy balancing act that he has tried to maintain since Trump lost the election, reflecting the reality that McConnell’s own path back to power in the Senate hinges on the enthusiasm of a party base he still supports. ardently to Trump.

McConnell’s comments come ahead of an annual gathering of conservative activists that this year is expected to show Trump’s grip on the Republican base.

Trump, along with most of the other leading 2024 presidential prospects, will address the Conservative Political Action Conference, which will be held in Orlando this year due to coronavirus restrictions.

McConnell, a regular at the annual conference, will not be on the show following his conviction of Trump.

The 36-year Senate veteran had a convenient relationship with Trump while in office. He got used to saying little about many of Trump’s scandalous comments.

But together they scored key Senate victories, such as the 2017 tax cuts and confirmations from three Supreme Court justices and more than 200 other federal justices.

Their relationship soured after Trump’s denial of his November 3 defeat and tireless efforts to reverse the verdict by voters with his baseless claims that Democrats fraudulently stole the election.

It deteriorated further last month, after Republicans lost control of the Senate with two runoff losses in Georgia blaming Trump, followed by the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.

On the day of the revolt, McConnell lashed out at “thugs, mobs or threats” and described the attack as “this failed insurrection.”

Still, McConnell likes to pride himself on playing the “long game,” which was the title of his 2016 memoir. And his comments Thursday may still be prescient.

Recently, Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, a longtime opponent of Trump, predicted that the former president would win the nomination if he ran again.

“I don’t know if he will run in 2024 or not, but if he does, I’m pretty sure he will win the nomination,” Romney said during an online forum hosted by the New York Times.