What is Mitch McConnell trying to do?
At various points in 2021, Mitch McConnell has blamed Donald Trump for the Capitol insurrection, acquitted Donald Trump for the Capitol insurrection, and urged the criminal prosecution of Donal Trump for the Capitol insurrection. It couldn’t be more clear that McConnell has been playing both sides.
Now McConnell has taken it to a whole new level, except not really. He told Fox News that he expects the 2024 Republican primary race to be a “wide open race” – a sentiment with which we agree. There’s no obvious Republican frontrunner, which means the Republican field will be chock full of also-rans. But when McConnell was asked if he’d support Trump if he’s the 2024 Republican nominee, McConnell said “Absolutely.”
This has set off a lot of controversy. But nothing has really changed. There’s a reason McConnell said what he said about Trump being criminally prosecuted: he knows it’s going to happen. Trump is a lock for indictment in New York on financial charges, and that’s even before getting to the criminal case he faces in Georgia for election tampering, and the criminal case he faces in Washington DC for the insurrection.
Mitch McConnell knows better than anyone that while there will be plenty of Republican presidential candidates in 2024, Donald Trump won’t be one of them – unless he figures out how to run his campaign from solitary confinement. So when McConnell was asked about whether he’d support Trump if he’s the 2024 nominee, McConnell knew he was answering a hypothetical that was never going to happen.
Accordingly, it cost McConnell nothing to give the answer that he gave. It ingratiates him a bit with Trump’s base now, and he knows he’ll never have to answer for it by the time 2024 rolls around. McConnell is corrupt, but he’s savvy. He knows how to successfully play both sides. And he’s going to keep playing both sides until Trump has been arrested and his ghost is off the political stage.
