Republicans Can’t Afford To Elect Another Mitch McConnell As Senate Leader
Senate Republicans cannot be led by someone who is openly hostile to the agenda of their party’s president and the base who elected him
Last Tuesday, America sent a resounding message to Washington when they elected Donald Trump and gave Republicans majorities in the Senate and likely the House. D.C. Republicans now have one job: Don’t screw it up.
For Senate Republicans, this means closing the book on the Mitch McConnell era of governance marked by heavily centralized management and open hostility to the Trump agenda and the Republican base. On Nov. 13, they will elect a new leader for the first time in nearly 18 years and have a chance to usher in a new leadership that is accountable to the conference and the priorities of the evolving base of the Republican Party.
As he prepares to depart the post of leader, McConnell continues to make clear where he stands on the Trump agenda. According to a forthcoming biography, he wished for Democrats to defeat Trump (in his words, to “take care of that son of a b-tch for us”) and has said he intends to stay in the Senate to fight members of his own party as a restrained foreign policy takes root within the GOP.
Republicans in the Senate cannot be led by someone who is openly hostile to the agenda of their party’s president and, by extension, the base who elected him — and all of them — on that platform. The Senate is not a rubber stamp for the president, but it must be an open and willing partner in implementing the president’s policy agenda. This requires a GOP leader who not only can intelligently advocate for an America First platform but also empowers each GOP senator to do the same.
