A new report from Newsmax says that sources who are close to both former President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who have not had any sort of communication with one another since December 2020, have claimed that teams behind both men are now working toward getting Kentucky Republican to endorsement of Trump for the White House in 2024. Man, there doesn’t seem to be much love lost between these two if they haven’t spoken in over three years.
One has to wonder whether or not having McConnell’s stamp of approval will help the former president or end up hurting him. The Kentucky senator has a well earned reputation for capitulating to the establishment and Democrats, so he’s not exactly well liked by the kind of folks who typically like Trump. However, Trump needs the vote of the establishment to help him win the general election, so maybe McConnell’s endorsement would bring some of those individuals to the table.
“We’ve reached the part of the primary where the party is coming together,”one of the sources told The Hill. “The absolute worst thing that can happen to this country is electing Joe Biden for four more years, and you can expect to coalesce around that point over the next nine months.”
Here’s more from Newsmax:
According to The New York Times, which first reported the possible endorsement, conversations have been taking place between Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita and McConnell confidant and political strategist Josh Holmes. The two started making an effort last month at about the time of the Iowa caucuses, sources told The Times, and Trump and McConnell were made aware of the talks.
In late January, Trump was telling people that he expected the key McConnell endorsement. A McConnell endorsement would give Trump a vital party endorsement while signaling donors and anti-Trump Republicans that getting behind him in the idea of defeating President Joe Biden, who is far ahead of Trump in campaign cash, is acceptable.
McConnell, though, strongly blamed Trump as being “practically and morally responsible” for the Jan. 6, 2021, violence at the U.S. Capitol, but has also said he will endorse whomever the eventual GOP nominee is.
“President Trump is the presumptive nominee and it is time for the entire party to coalesce behind him to defeat crooked Joe Biden,” Trump communications director Steven Cheung went on to say in a statement given to The Times. “Senior members of the campaign have had many conversations but only engage with those who are actually willing to fight for America First principles and to take back the White House.”
Doug Andres, a spokesman for McConnell would not provide a comment on the talks.
Trump already has some substantial support from within the GOP, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Sen. John Thune, and others.
Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who leads the Senate Republican campaign arm, said he’s been encouraging all party members to unite behind Trump, in hopes of defeating Biden and winning the party’s control of the Senate.
However, the bad blood continues between McConnell and Trump, including in recent weeks when the Kentucky senator saw the bipartisan immigration and foreign aid bill he pushed for die after Trump pushed on lawmakers to vote against it.
The questions about whether or not this would be good for Trump take a backseat to whether or not the two men can even have a working relationship together at this point. However, with the future of our republic hanging in the balance, we need to set aside personal differences and join forces to stop Biden and the Democrats from destroying our way of life.
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