Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wants to end his feud with former president Donald Trump, the Hill reported.
The feud escalated this past weekend when Trump called McConnell a “stone-cold loser” and a “dumb son of a b***h.”
Trump’s comments on McConnell came the evening after the National Republican Senatorial Committee bestowed upon the former president its “Champion of Freedom Award” at his Mar-a-Lago resort/residence in Florida.
The Kentucky senator—currently the country’s most powerful Republican—refused to respond to Trump’s criticism while appearing to offer a veiled swipe at Trump’s election loss.
“What I’m concentrating on is the future,” McConnell said, “and what we are confronted with here is a totally left-wing administration, with a slight majority in the House, a 50–50 Senate trying to transform America into something no one voted for last year.”
Relations between the two have deteriorated over the past six months as both blamed the other for the losses in the 2020 election, despite the suspected presence of widespread, systemic vote fraud in several key battleground states.
Among other things, Trump faulted McConnell for not pushing back harder against the leftist narrative while his campaign sought to challenge the alleged election of Democrat Joe Biden.
McConnell blamed Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 uprising, in which hundreds of rally-goers breached the US Capitol grounds during joint congressional session to certify the Electoral College vote.
Though McConnell voted to acquit Trump during House Democrats’ subsequent impeachment, he later delivered a speech calling Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 “a disgraceful dereliction of duty.”
Trump soon fired back, calling McConnell a “a political hack.”
Despite the bad blood, McConnell has committed to supporting Trump if he were to be the party’s nominee in 2024.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-SD, an ally close to McConnell, suggested on Tuesday that he is prepared put the feud to rest.
“Right now, it’s sort of a one-sided thing,” Thune said.
McConnell “has no animosity and he’s made it very clear he wants to work with the president to get the majority back,” he said.
Trump has attacked Thune in the past as well, calling him a “Republican in Name Only” and “Mitch’s boy.”
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman, was taken aback by Trump’s criticism of McConnell at Mar-a-Lago, saying that he “completely” disagrees with Trump’s comments.
