Donald Trump Mocks Mitch McConnell’s Endorsement: ‘Painful Day’
President Donald Trump mocked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s endorsement of him on Sunday as a “painful day” for the senator during a campaign rally in North Carolina.
McConnell, who has led the Republican Party in the U.S. Senate since 2007, has notably clashed with Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, following the 2020 election. In private, McConnell called Trump “stupid” and “despicable,” according to a biography about the senator that was published last week and while in public, he said that Trump was “practically and morally responsible for provoking” the U.S. Capitol riot that occurred on January 6, 2021.
Meanwhile, Trump has also bashed McConnell after his election loss, claiming the senator was “hanging by a thread.”
Ultimately, McConnell put his concerns aside and endorsed Trump in the 2024 election against Vice President Kamala Harris rather than stand against the former president as some high-profile Republicans have done throughout the cycle. McConnell had promised to support the Republican nominee “regardless of who it is” and that Trump “earned the nomination.”
During a campaign rally in Kinston, North Carolina, on Sunday, just days before Election Day, Trump mocked the endorsement stating that it “must’ve been a painful day in his life.”
“Hopefully we get rid of Mitch McConnell pretty soon…Can you believe he endorsed me? Boy, that must’ve been a painful day in his life. Every time I think of it, he didn’t have to do that. He provided the necessary votes. What a disgrace,” Trump said.
Trump: Hopefully, we get rid of Mitch McConnell… Can you believe he endorsed me? That must have been a painful day in his life… pic.twitter.com/CBRGUtT6ZH
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 3, 2024
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign and McConnell’s office via email for comment.
Trump’s remarks come after McConnell will be vacating his seat in January 2027 after nearly four decades but will be leaving his role as Republican Senate leader this month.
Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, and Senator John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, have emerged as the frontrunners to replace McConnell as the Republican leader in the Senate.
McConnell is the longest-serving Senate leader in U.S. history. He served as Senate majority leader from 2015 until 2021 when Democrats took back control of the legislative body.
Political analysts who previously spoke to Newsweek remain largely unenthused by the choices of Cornyn and Thune, finding them “conventional” options, but are unable to name alternatives that could factor into the contest. Only Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, gets a mention as a third option, but most did not focus on him as a serious contender.
Gregory Koger, a political scientist and professor of political science at the University of Miami, previously told Newsweek that the election to replace McConnell would prove “critical to the future of the Senate as a legislative body.”
“The new leader can reconnect the Senate Republican party engagement in the legislative process, seeking to pass bipartisan legislation that is consistent with conservative principles in the national interest,” Koger said. “Or, Senate Republicans can continue to paralyze the chamber so that decision making power flows to the executive and judicial branches.”
Jason Cabel Roe, a political and communications strategist with more than three decades working in campaigns at all levels of government, called McConnell “one of a kind” who “cannot be replaced” for his “mastery of the legislative process, his ability to navigate the byzantine culture of the Senate and his understanding of the caucus.”
He added: “I think it will come down to who the caucus thinks can effectively co-exist with a President Trump, if he wins, or who will be better prepared to stop a Harris agenda, if she wins.”
