Mitch McConnell just put a deadline on Donald Trump’s downfall
All along there’s never been any doubt that Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans would selfishly sell out Donald Trump if his numbers got ugly enough. The only question has been whether Trump’s numbers would reach that threshold. Now that Trump’s numbers have indeed collapsed, McConnell is indeed making preparations for Trump’s downfall – and he appears to be making sure everyone knows it.
Two different news outlets are now reporting that Mitch McConnell has penciled in a deadline for Donald Trump to turn around his disastrous poll numbers, and that if it doesn’t happen, McConnell will advise Republican Senators to distance themselves from Trump in their reelection bids. Vanity Fair says the deadline is around Labor Day – which is the first week of September – while Reuters says the deadline is “perhaps as soon as August.” So what’s really going on here?
McConnell’s working theory appears to be that if Donald Trump doesn’t turn it around by this August-September deadline, then he’s not going to turn it around – and in such case Republican Senators are better off trying to save themselves by kicking dirt on Trump’s proverbial grave. What stands out is that this deadline was leaked to two different news outlets in rapid succession. This suggests that McConnell is making a point of leaking this story, as a way of sending a clear signal to everyone involved that Trump is on the clock.
