(TargetLiberty.org) – Following the recent failure of the Senate border deal, there have been some who believe that former President Donald Trump’s influence on conservatives within the GOP has led to relations between some lawmakers and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) souring.
McConnell, 81, has faced a lot of criticism from Trump, who is likely to be the party’s nominee in 2024. Most recently the bipartisan border deal which included aid for Israel and Ukraine and had McConnell’s support failed to move forward after Trump opposed it. The deal was rejected by GOP hardliners, in part because of the additional foreign aid included in the bill. McConnell is now working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in an attempt to advance a $95 billion security bill.
However, McConnell’s abilities to work on bipartisan deals are starting to be considered a liability by some of his Trump-aligned colleagues.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told reporters that Trump has more influence than McConnell and that the former is likely to be the party’s nominee and the future of the party, which is not the case for the Senate leader.
While McConnell’s office did not make any comments on this story, last week the Senate leader told media outlets that he had faced tough times in politics before and had survived. On Friday he also pushed about how important it was for the United States to continue providing aid as they had to fight off the Russian invasion.
McConnell also argued that they wanted to show to the country’s allies and adversaries that they were “serious about exercising American strength.
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