Mitch McConnell was “exhilarated” after Jan. 6 insurrection because he believed it would end Trump’s political career
According to a new report from The Washington Post, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R. KY) felt “exhilarated” that the January 6, 2021 attacks on the U.S. Capitol would signal the end of President Donald Trump’s political career. The Post was reporting on a new book about the attacks, “This Will Not Pass,” by New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin.
McConnell told Martin:
“I feel exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself.”
And later reiterating that he believed Trump was “pretty thoroughly discredited by this.”
via Twitter / @washingtonpost
The GOP base now obviously feels differently than McConnell, as polls show Trump is the frontrunner to be the Republican nominee again in 2024.
McConnell continued:
“He put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
The book also talks about about the possibility that then-President Trump’s cabinet would invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Martin’s book quoted McConnell saying that he talked to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D. NY) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D. CA) about a bipartisan, joint statement to block Donald Trump from the inauguration.
Mitch McConnell via Flickr / Gage Skidmore https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
The Post also reveals the extent to which Republicans either hated or were skeptical of Trump, or both, but kept quiet about it. Republicans in congress continually appeared to submit to Trump’s demands out of fear that he could use his base to end their political career. The book also shows that McConnell and other Republicans clearly made “miscalculations” about the events of January 6 ending Trump’s political career.
According to the book, on the night of January 6, McConnell told his staff that Trump is a “despicable person” and that he would personally take him on politically.
McConnell told Martin:
“We crushed the sons of b—-es. and that’s what we’re going to do in the primary in ’22.”
“Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Even in spite of that initial plan to take on Trump and try to crush his movement, politically, McConnell deemed voting to convict Trump was a waste of time and said he would support Trump again if he is indeed the 2024 GOP nominee.
