Sen. Ted Cruz has faced some fair criticisms in recent years for supporting Donald Trump, even after the former president took the extraordinary step of going after the Texas Republican’s wife. There’s an old cliché about politics not being beanbag, but the fact that a senator would be willing to overlook personal attacks against his own spouse struck many observers as extraordinary.
We’re occasionally reminded, however, that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is in the same boat.
To be sure, the former president’s campaign against the Kentucky Republican has been unsubtle. Trump has gone out of his way to attack McConnell, all but begging GOP senators to replace the longtime lawmaker as their leader. The former president has also said McConnell “has a DEATH WISH” for disagreeing with Trump’s legislative strategies, and last year, he told The New York Times on the record that he consider McConnell to be “a piece of s—.”
But Trump has been just as aggressive in going after the GOP leader’s wife, former cabinet secretary Elaine Chao, with racist taunts and dubious allegations of corruption.
As CNN learned this week, McConnell is prepared to support another Trump candidacy anyway.
McConnell, who has faced incessant attacks from Trump after he blamed the former president for being “practically and morally responsible” for the 2021 Capitol attack, is not publicly letting on any concerns about the possibility that Trump could be on the top of the GOP ticket again. … “Look, I’m going to support the nominee of our party for president, no matter who that may be,” he said.
Or put another way, even now, knowing everything he now knows, after the former president went after his own wife with racist taunts, McConnell is still open to supporting a Trump comeback bid. In fact, based on his comments, the Senate minority leader is fully prepared to back Trump again if he’s the choice of the party’s primary voters.
This isn’t surprising, but…
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