Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will support Trump if the former president wins the Republican nomination for 2024 because he has an “obligation” to support the party’s candidate. McConnell described his stance on Trump’s candidacy in an interview with Axios journalist Jonathan Swan this week. “Help me figure it out. I listened to your speech in the Senate last February after the second vote to oust Donald Trump. And it was a great speech,” Swan said, referring to a speech by McConnell on Feb. 21. “You spoke very loudly against the strongest figure of the party, the president. “And you said that Donald Trump’s actions before the January 6 uprising were an – excerpt – a shameful omission of duty and that he was practically morally responsible, your words, for provoking the events of that day,” Swan added. “How do you go from saying that to saying two weeks later that you would fully support Donald Trump if he ran for the Republicans in 2024?” McConnell responded that as leader of the Republican Senate, it should not be a “front-page headline” that he would support the Republican nominee. “I think I have an obligation to support my party candidate,” McConnell said. “This will mean that whoever the candidate is, he has come out and won the candidacy.” “It’s not inconsistent at all. I insist on everything I said on January 6 and everything on February 13,” McConnell added. “I can not choose the Republican candidate for president. They are elected by Republican voters across the country,” he said. Swan said lawmaker Liz Cheney seemed to have a similar view to McConnell on Trump’s responsibility for the Jan. 6 uprising, but noted that, unlike McConnell, Cheney believed there were “some things more important than faith in the party “. “I’m really trying to figure it out. Is there a limit to you?” Swan pressed. “You know, I’m saying a lot of things that I’m sure people do not understand,” McConnell said. McConnell, saying he would support Trump if the former president became the Republican candidate in 2024, comes months after the latter criticized, criticized and mocked him. In November, Trump hit McConnell several times. That month, the former president criticized McConnell for backing President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, calling him “RINOs,” an acronym for Republican In Name Only. He also nicknamed McConnell “Old Crow” and accused him of “jeopardizing” the chances of re-electing other Republican senators. In January, he called McConnell a “loser” for defending Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who refuted Trump’s allegations of voter fraud. And in February, Trump said McConnell did not speak for the Republican Party or the “overwhelming majority of his electorate.” That month, Trump also asked Sen. Rick Scott to challenge McConnell as GOP leader in the Senate, adding to the long-running rift between the two. This came after McConnell ostensibly dismissed rumors that Trump could try to oust him from the majority leader if the GOP were to win the Senate by-elections. McConnell has also publicly broken with Trump. In February, he said he would not advocate shortening any of the Jan. 6 rioters’ sentences after Trump suggested giving the Capitol rioters a chance to attend a rally. The New York Times also reported in February that McConnell was working quietly behind the scenes to ensure that Trump-backed “blunders” would not win the Senate by-election. Trump strongly hints at the 2024 campaign, but has not officially announced his campaign.
