McConnell has had an awful bout of falls and embarrassing moments on camera. Many have questioned whether he’s fit to lead.
And now this Mitch McConnell resignation announcement sent Capitol Hill into chaos.
It’s no secret that McConnell has seen better days.
Relatively recently, he had multiple instances of freezing in silence when asked questions by reporters.
Just in -U.S. Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell freezes for the second time while speaking to the press.
— 1776 (@TheWakeninq) August 30, 2023
He also has fallen multiple times in 2023, including one which left him hospitalized with a concussion.
But it’s not his health that’s causing an outcry this time, it’s his policy positions.
After the Senate border compromise fell this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is defending himself from internal conference critics calling for his resignation.
After the deal collapsed on Tuesday, a group of Republican senators celebrated, with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) claiming Senate GOP leadership was “out of touch with Republican voters.”
In an interview with Politico, McConnell reminded his vociferous detractors that they had the opportunity to replace him as the senior Senate Republican after the 2022 election.
“I’ve had a small group of persistent critics the whole time I’ve been in this job. They had their shot,” McConnell said.
Following a disastrous 2022 election in which the GOP lost a Senate seat while anticipating it might retake control of the chamber, McConnell faced a challenge to his leadership position.
Senator Rick Scott (R-Florida) competed against McConnell for Senate minority leader. In November 2022, McConnell survived the challenge with a 37-10 vote.
The longtime Senate GOP leader also chastised some of his Republican colleagues for pushing for a border agreement.
McConnell admitted that plan would need the consent of Democrats, who control the White House and the Senate.
“The reason we’ve been talking about the border is because they wanted to, the persistent critics,” McConnell said.
“You can’t pass a bill without dealing with a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate.”
Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), James Lankford (R-OK), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) led months of negotiations to finalize the Senate border bill, which was announced on Sunday.
Several Republicans in the House and Senate strongly opposed the agreement, indicating they would not support it.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) declared the plan to be “dead on arrival” in the House, and McConnell eventually admitted that the border accord had little chance of passing.
Stay tuned to the DC Daily Journal.
