Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and former President Trump made efforts Thursday to bury the hatchet and end their long-running feud, as GOP confidence grows that the party could win both chambers of Congress and the White House this fall.
Initially, it was uncertain whether McConnell would attend the lunch hosted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) with Trump, given the more than three years of acrimony between the two leaders stemming from Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.
Their relationship hit a low point in 2022, when Trump declared that McConnell had a “death wish” because of his support for bipartisan legislation and mocked his wife, former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, as the “loving wife of China” by McConnell and “Coco Chow”.
However, McConnell sat next to Trump at a large rectangular table decorated with a red tablecloth and applauded heartily when Senate Republicans presented Trump with a birthday cake the day before his 78th birthday.
The top of the cake was decorated with two candles – one shaped like a 45 and the other shaped like a 47 – to mark Trump’s first term as president and reflect the hope of Senate Republicans that Trump will become the country’s 47th leader.
McConnell gave reporters a glowing account of the lunch and noted that he had a few chances to speak with Trump and shake his hand.
“We had a very positive meeting. He and I had a chance to talk a little bit, we shook hands a few times,” McConnell told reporters after the meeting, adding that Trump received a standing ovation several times.
“It was a totally positive meeting,” he added. “I can’t think of anything I can tell you that was negative.”
Senators said Trump made efforts to praise McConnell to his colleagues, even though he repeatedly urged them to remove him as Senate GOP leader after he opposed Trump’s effort to block the certification of Joe’s victory. Biden in the 2020 elections.
“The president spoke favorably about Mitch, about all the work he did to try to keep the conference together,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Ky.). “He was very complimentary.”
Another Republican senator who attended the meeting said Trump gently sought to bury the blame game that erupted between Trump allies and McConnell after Senate Republicans lost a seat in the 2022 midterm elections.
“He said about 2022 that ‘Mitch, it wasn’t really your fault that we lost Senate seats and it wasn’t my fault,’” said the senator, who requested anonymity to discuss the private interaction.
“That was a graceful thing. And then he said later, ‘I know. Mitch, you have always worked hard to increase the number of [Senate] Republicans. Given the history of their relationship, I thought it was [Trump] really offering an olive branch, being very, very warm,” the parliamentarian said.
It was a major change in tone from what occurred after the midterm elections, when Trump urged Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) to challenge McConnell for the leadership role.
At the time, Trump criticized McConnell as a “terrible leader” and declared that “people are very upset with Mitch McConnell.”
Despite Trump’s maneuvering, McConnell handily defeated Scott in a hastily organized race by 36 votes to 10.
The senator said Trump’s magnanimous comments about McConnell on Thursday were intended to help unify the Republican Party ahead of the fall elections and reflected that Trump feels secure that he has won the power struggle with Senate Republican critics.
“I just think Trump won and Mitch lost. Mitch wanted Trump in prison. Not only did this not happen, but he is the nominee. The images tell the story, Trump walks into this meeting and Mitch deliberately chooses to stand to his right and [Senate Republican Whip] John Thune [R-S.D.] deliberately chooses to be on your left. They want to be seen with him,” said the parliamentarian, describing the seating arrangement at the meeting.
A video of the meeting posted online by the Trump campaign showed McConnell sitting near Trump’s right hand, with Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) sitting between them.
A third senator said Trump went out of his way several times to praise McConnell or mention his name.
The lawmaker, who also requested anonymity to discuss the meeting, said Trump was “making a point of projecting a positive attitude toward Mitch” and “never” mentioned “a reference to any disagreement.”
Senate Republicans expressed relief Thursday that McConnell and Trump are moving past their bitter rivalry, which has hung over the Senate Republican conference since December 2020, the last time McConnell and Trump spoke.
Republican senators say they hope whoever replaces McConnell as Senate Republican leader will have a better relationship with Trump, who they hope will defeat President Biden in November.
Tuberville said Thune acknowledged during a private meeting with him in March “that there cannot be a difficult relationship” with Trump “or he will not be the leader.”
Thune, the No. 2 member of Senate GOP leadership, and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is running to succeed McConnell as leader, have criticized Trump in the past.
But both Thune and Cornyn are now emphasizing to their Senate Republican colleagues that they will work closely with Trump if they are elected to the top leadership role.
Scott, who is also running to succeed McConnell, is a loyal Trump ally who recently traveled to Manhattan to show support for him in his criminal trial on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Senate Republicans say working closely with Trump will be key to winning competitive races in Senate swing states such as Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Republican Senate strategists note that in the last two presidential elections, only one Senate incumbent won, in a state where his party’s presidential candidate lost. That was Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), who was re-elected in 2020 despite Biden winning her state with 53% of the vote.
“President Trump will do very well in these crucial battleground states. He needs to win these states to win the presidency, and we will work alongside President Trump in these races to make sure he wins and to make sure our Senate candidates win. Because without a Republican majority in the Senate, President Trump will not be able to achieve his agenda,” said NRSC Chairman Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who co-hosted Thursday’s meeting with Trump.
Trump promised Senate Republicans that he would help them raise money and hold tele-townhall events with GOP candidates to help raise their profiles with base voters, according to senators who attended the meeting.
“He said he will be actively involved. He will do everything he can to help us,” Daines said after the meeting.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
