Donald Trump’s last stand
Mitch McConnell spent the past two days proving that he can be just as sneakily vicious to Donald Trump as he was to Barack Obama for the previous eight years. McConnell backstabbed Trump in the media yesterday, then proceeded to front-hug him today, and his motivation was clear enough: he wanted to wound Trump, but not quite finish him off yet, because first he needs him for one last stand. But after that, they may end up ousting each other.
Just before Trump was set to kick off a rally in Phoenix which would see him informally endorse his own primary challenger to sitting Republican Senator Jeff Flake, McConnell decided to strike first. He leaked to the New York Times that Trump had called him up and cursed him out in the wake of the TrumpCare debacle. He even had his former Chief of Staff plant the word “impeach” in the New York Times in reference to Trump. It made Trump look like an unraveling idiot who is in danger of being ousted by his own party. And it took the wind out Trump’s subsequent attempt at promoting Flake’s challenger.
But then today Mitch McConnell demonstrated how good he can be at dishonestly playing both sides. He put out a statement in his own name in which he insisted that things are just fine between him and Trump, because they’re about to work together to cut taxes for the wealthy. McConnell has been doing this long enough to know that Trump is out of gas, and that Trump is planning to try to spitefully take the Republican Party down with him.
But because tax cuts for the wealthy are the only thing the GOP truly cares about these days, as dictated by their billionaire backers, McConnell is going to try to make it happen before he has to cast aside any hope of a legislative agenda so he can fight the turf war that a sinking Trump is trying to wage against him. Trump already has the party in such chaos that it’s not even clear if tax cuts for the wealthy will pass; some increasingly angry GOP Senators may hold up the vote just to spite him. But once that bill sinks or swims, all bets are off.
Mitch McConnell made a point of wounding Donald Trump on Tuesday, proving just how easily he can pick apart the outmatched political novice any time he chooses to. But McConnell isn’t going to try to finish off Trump until after the tax bill comes and goes. But with McConnell having been the one who sold the Republican Congress on Trump’s viability to begin with, the question now is whether Senate Republicans might try to oust him even as he’s trying to oust Trump.
It’s anyone’s guess as to whether Trump or McConnell is more likely to survive the war they’re about to wage against each other. But it is now clear that McConnell intends the tax bill to be Trump’s last stand. If you find Palmer Report valuable, make a donation.
