In the wake of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s endorsement of Donald Trump for president, the former president posted what many felt was a very uncharacteristically conciliatory and gracious message of thanks.
On Wednesday, the Senate GOP chief endorsed the former president after it became clear that GOP candidate Nikki Haley was going to suspend her perennially doomed race for the White House.
“It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for president of the United States,” McConnell said in a statement, The Washington Post reported.
“It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support,” McConnell added.
McConnell’s endorsement, though, came only after Haley, who thus far has won only two primaries — Vermont and Washington D.C. — announced she was suspending her attempt to earn the GOP nomination for president for 2024.
Immediately after McConnell’s statement, Trump took to his Truth Social and thanked the GOP leader for his consideration.
“Thank you, Mitch. I look forward to working with you and a Republican Senate MAJORITY to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote.
Some felt that Trump’s graciousness was out of character.
It’s not that Trump praising Mitch McConnell and saying he looks forward to working with him is a big deal.
It’s that if any other Republican had said the same thing, MAGA would be losing their minds. The promo code bros would be inconsolable.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) March 6, 2024
Others, though, insisted that there always people complaining about what Trump does.
Almost nobody judges Trump by the same standards as every other political figure, it seems. Either he can do no good or he can do no wrong.
I think that if you don’t see Trump as at least 20% good and at least 20% bad then you are biased.— Matt Smith (@SmithMDMD) March 6, 2024
It is certainly true that Trump has attacked Mitch McConnell, who is stepping down from leadership after the election, mercilessly in the past.
Back in 2022, for instance, Trump railed that McConnell had a “death wish” for voting in favor of bills sponsored by Democrats, and added that “Mitch McConnell is killing the Republican Party through weakness and cowardice,” NBC News reported at the time.
McConnell also returned jabs time and again. In 2022, he even hinted that he thinks Trump wanted to terminate the Constitution, Spectrum NY1 reported.
It also seems a bit uncharacteristic that Trump would be so suddenly welcoming toward McConnell, since he has specifically worked to defeat several candidates that McConnell supported in various elections over the years.
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On the other hand, Trump also reversed that stance and recently announced his support of a McConnell pick. McConnell backed Tim Sheehy in a Montana race for the U.S. Senate to face openly pro-Trump candidate Matt Rosendale. Yet Trump jumped in and endorsed McConnell’s pick, instead of the one candidate who is fully pro-Trump and in the face of the fact that Sheehy has left some very problematic, anti-MAGA history in his wake.
It all makes one wonder if Trump has made a quiet deal with McConnell behind the scenes to smooth the waters and to show some unity ahead of the 2024 Republican National Convention set for July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
