McConnell slams Trump 2024 bid after call for ‘termination’ of rules in Constitution
Ryan King
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blasted former President Donald Trump’s floating the “termination” of rules in the Constitution over the weekend.
Mirroring his criticism of Trump last week over the dinner with Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago, McConnell chided that anyone musing about scrapping provisions in the Constitution would likely have a “very hard time being sworn in as the president.”
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“Anyone seeking the presidency who thinks that the Constitution should somehow be suspended or not followed seems to me would have a very hard time being sworn in as the president of the United States,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday at the Capitol.
Pressed further on whether he would fully reject backing Trump in 2024 if he were the GOP nominee, McConnell stopped short of a clear no. Instead he said, “It would be pretty hard to be sworn into the presidency if you’re not willing to uphold the Constitution.”
Drawing outcry from Democrats and a growing number of Republicans, Trump fumed about his 2020 election loss on his Truth Social platform in light of Elon Musk’s release of the so-called Twitter Files that highlighted the social giant’s efforts to quash the New York Post story on Hunter Biden.
“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” the former president wrote as he also dangled the notion of an election redo.
Others, such as Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), similarly dunked on Trump’s apparent Constitution “termination” musing. Trump later clarified his remarks, insisting he meant that steps should be taken to correct the 2020 election and scorned the media and his critics for peddling “DISINFORMATION & LIES.”
“The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES, just like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and all of their other HOAXES & SCAMS,” Trump said in a follow-up post.
Since Trump’s departure from the White House, McConnell has been a frequent political punching bag for him. He opposed McConnell’s bid for Senate minority leader last month and said he “blew the Midterms,” while deriding his “otherwise lovely wife, Coco Chow.”
The line of attack against McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan and served as Trump’s transportation secretary, has drawn accusations of racism.
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Last week, McConnell ripped Trump for meeting with Ye, the rapper once known as Kanye West, and Fuentes, both of whom have trafficked antisemitic rhetoric.
“Anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States,” the Kentucky senator said.
Trump debuted his 2024 presidential campaign last month, but he has largely refrained from major blockbuster outings in the time since. He has weathered a string of controversies, including the Fuentes dinner, and legal troubles with the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith in the interim.