Is McConnell’s Post-Trump Strategy Working?
The Senate minority leader is trying to navigate a narrow path between populists and loyalists.
Washington’s oddest couple?
Photographer: Doug Mills/Getty Images North America
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has a knack for making everyone mad. With his vote against former President Donald Trump’s impeachment, he angered both Democrats and many Never-Trump Republicans. His vote could have been seen as a cynical ploy to cozy up to Trump’s base, except for the scathing speech he delivered afterwards.
It’s a Washington cliche that people remember how you vote, not what you say. But in the post-Trump era, the opposite may be true. McConnell’s verbal attack on Trump was the most blistering and succinct indictment of the former president of the entire impeachment trial — so damning, in fact, that Trump emerged from his self-imposed media blackout to issue an equally fiery retort.