Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) declined the opportunity to say whether or not he thinks the U.S. is in a better position now than before President Donald Trump reoriented the nation’s politics with his America First agenda.
In an interview with the Lexington Herald-Leader published Wednesday, the former Senate Majority Leader, relegated to backbencher status after stepping down as leader under pressure from conservatives, would not say if Americans are better off now than before Trump descended the golden escalator in 2015, instead praising the rejected foreign policy of the Joe Biden presidency.
“You know, I’m not sure enough time has passed to start evaluating who made a difference and who didn’t,” McConnell answered when pressed on the state of the nation before and after Trump, before then speculating on his own legacy.
The 83-year old McConnell, who says his focus in his final two years in the Senate is on defense and foreign policy, has often butted heads on those issues with Trump, who is much more skeptical of the efficacy of sending American men and treasure overseas, as well as using tariffs to protect American jobs and prosperity and combat the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) rising global influence.
The Kentuckian, perhaps the most fervent Republican figure pushing for continued U.S. funding of Ukraine’s war against Russia, used the interview to warn of dubious historical parallels between the years leading up to Second World War and the present.
“I think this is the most dangerous period since before World War Two,” McConnell told the Herald-Leader. “There’s certain similarities right now to the ‘30s. Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley tariff bill in 1930, widely believed by historians and economists to have taken the depression worldwide. Those who were totally anxious to stay out of all of what was going on in Europe were called ‘America First.’ Sound familiar?”
McConnell, who supported the Biden policy of American inserting itself into the war in Europe after Putin’s Biden-era invasion, warned “with regard to Ukraine, what we need to do is avoid the headline at the end of the war, ‘Russia wins, America loses.’”
Breitbart News Senior Contributor Peter Schweizer has warned of McConnell’s and his wife Elaine Chao’s ties to China for years, writing in his bestseller, Red-Handed: How American Elites Get Rich Helping China Win, that the couple’s China ties stem from Chao’s father’s shipping business, the Foremost Group, which has “built the family’s fortune by sharing a close financial relationship with China-owned companies like the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).”.
Trump himself has criticized McConnell for allowing his wife’s family’s ties to China influence his work in the Senate, posting on Truth Social in 2022 that McConnell “should spend more time (and money!) helping [Republican Senators] get elected, and less time helping his crazy wife and family get rich on China!”
Nate Morris, a fierce McConnell critic and leading candidate to replace the seven-term Senator, attacked McConnell’s position as well as two other Senate candidates, Daniel Cameron and Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), for their continued support of McConnell – who both have called a “mentor.”
“Both of my opponents continue to bend the knee to the man they call their ‘mentor’ and refuse to say a word about Mitch McConnell constantly attacking President Trump and his America First foreign policy and tariffs,” Morris posted on X. “I’m running to turn the page on Mitch and put America First.”
In his interview, McConnell insisted that he and Cameron, a former McConnell staffer who lost a gubernatorial race to Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear in deep-red Kentucky, remain close. He then implied that Beshear, who has flirted with a run for the Democratic presidential nomination, should run to replace him in the Senate.
“He’s a gifted politician, he won in a red state, and I know Chuck Schumer well enough to know that he’s probably beating the door down,” McConnell said of Beshear. “And so, what the governor will have to decide: Is he more likely to get to be president, a pretty long shot for anybody, or to win a Senate seat where he’s shown he’s competitive? So I think we’re going to have to pay attention to Kentucky right up until the filing deadline, and I think who is chosen makes a big difference.”
McConnell is unpopular with a majority of Kentuckians, according to a July poll from Morning Consult, which found he suffers from the lowest approval rating among constituents of any of the 100 U.S. senators.
McConnell “remains America’s most unpopular senator for the 18th successive quarter, with a 59% disapproval rating,” Morning Consult details. “The Kentuckian’s popularity at home is yet to recover from steep declines suffered during the end days of the Trump administration from late 2020 into early 2021.”
Bradley Jaye is Deputy Political Editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter and Instagram @BradleyAJaye
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