Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell considered Donald Trump a “sleazeball,” “a narcissist” and “a despicable human being” who was “unfit” for public office and committed an obviously impeachable offense. And yet, the Kentucky Republican not only voted against impeaching Trump in 2021…but has also endorsed his current run for president.
McConnell’s unvarnished opinions of Trump, first reported by the Associated Press and CNN, appear in a forthcoming biography of McConnell by journalist Michael Tackett. Tackett based the book on both conversations with McConnell and the senator’s personal archive, including an oral diary dating back to 1995. McConnell did not mince words, calling Trump “erratic,” “stupid,” “ill-tempered,” “irascible,” “nasty” and “just about every quality you would not want somebody to have.”
Of Trump’s actions during the Capitol riots on January 6, McConnell declared: “I’m not at all conflicted about whether what the president did is an impeachable offense. I think it is.”
Of Trump’s hold over Republican voters, he added: “Trump is appealing to people who haven’t been as successful as other people and providing an excuse for that.” Also: “Unfortunately, about half the Republicans in the country believe whatever he says.”
McConnell—who has led the Senate Republican Conference since 2007—has famously had a rocky relationship with Trump. The senator defied Trump’s claims that he won the 2020 election and broke with the former president to congratulate Joe Biden. McConnell also denounced Trump on the Senate floor in February 2021, calling him “practically and morally responsible” for the attack on the US Capitol. (Per Tackett’s book, he cried in the aftermath of the riot.)
Despite those misgivings, however, McConnell has never quite broken ranks. He endorsed Trump for president in March, fulfilling a previous promise to support whomever the GOP nominated, and met with the former president over the summer as part of a gathering of Senate Republicans.
“Whatever I may have said about President Trump pales in comparison to what JD Vance, Lindsey Graham, and others have said about him,” McConnell told CNN on Wednesday. “But we are all on the same team now.”
