‘Sadly, Mitch Forgot’: Trump Attacks McConnell In Email To GOP Lawmakers

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) puts on a mask after speaking to the press after a meeting with Republican Senators on Capitol Hill, May 19, 2020. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump lashed out against Senate Majority Leader Mitch (R-KY) for finally acknowledging Joe Biden’s clear electoral win. Trump sent a slide to Republican lawmakers that suggested the President had saved McConnell’s political career by endorsing him earlier this year

“Sadly, Mitch forgot,” the slide, which was sent out by Trump’s personal assistant on Monday and obtained by Axios, reads. “He was the first one off the ship.” 

The slide includes polling data that appeared to show McConnell in a dead heat against Democratic challenger Amy McGrath ahead of the Nov. 3 election until Trump offered his endorsement.

McConnell handily beat McGrath by nearly 20 points in last month’s election, despite her well-financed $94 million fundraising effort to unseat him.

Trump’s latest effort to trash a top member of his party reflects an increasingly desperate effort to alienate any GOP lawmaker who shows a commitment to carrying out the traditions of democracy which delivered a win to his opponent, President-elect Biden.

Trump’s slide points to polling that depicted a very tight race in Kentucky until Trump tweeted his endorsement of the Senate leader on June 19. 

The slide again shows polling tightening to 51%-40% before Trump delivered an Oct. 31 robocall in support of McConnell.

Although McConnell easily won over McGrath for his 7th term, the slide plays into an enduring perception that in the wake of Trump’s White House departure, he will continue to hold sway over the election campaigns of Republican lawmakers in 2022 and beyond. 

The unprecedented move comes weeks before the all-important Georgia runoff elections where Trump loyalists Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler have vowed their continued support of the president and have turned on GOP officials in their own state in efforts they hope will boost their prospects of holding onto seats that will determine which party holds Senate majority.

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Notable Replies

  1. “Sadly, Mitch forgot.”

    Maybe he’ll forget this, too!

  2. He’s right. Putin swapped up votes for Mitch, and this is how he repays that debt to Trump. Sad!

  3. Poor Donnie gives and gives and gives and he gets spit on in return.

    /s

  4. The Loan Shark President. Quite a legacy or the name of a new hit reality tv spectacle.

  5. Its part of the Axios article out this morning, that Trump is turning on everybody that won’t indulge his delusions. Including Pence:

    https://www.axios.com/trump-white-house-conspiracy-theories-d95450a4-c7a3-4579-a568-0473b18529c9.html

    Another interesting tidbit is what Marcy Wheeler dropped on Twitter as a reminder:

    Don't tell Sidney Powell about this--it'll be our secret, okay?

    But those fights that she and Rudy and recently pardoned foreign agent Mike Flynn keep having with the White House Counsel?

    White House Counsels don't have privilege.

    — Dr. emptywheel (@emptywheel) December 22, 2020

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