Analysis | McConnell crows about victory over Trump-aligned isolationists on Ukraine
The big idea
McConnell crows about victory over MAGA isolationists on Ukraine
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has spent recent years on the defensive within his party as Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” movement seized control of the GOP.
So McConnell has been on a bit of a victory tour of late, touting the overwhelming vote in Congress to approve $40 billion in Ukraine aid and feeling buoyed by what he views as a victory over the MAGA king. His message: The isolationists aligned with Trump lost, and the old Republican foreign policy guard he counts himself a part of won.
He hasn’t been shy about taking credit for the relative ease with which the bill made it through the Senate despite Trump’s opposition. In interviews, McConnell pointed to his trip to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as consequential. And did you know he spoke to President Biden ahead of the vote to convince him to drop the idea of tying pandemic funds to the Ukraine money? Well, he made sure the reporters he talked to did.
“I am interested in diminishing the number of my members who believe that America somehow can exist alone in the world,” McConnell told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday.
But was the vote a resurgence within his party of the foreign policy worldview he prefers or something like its last gasp?
McConnell, in his glee, ignores this: His role was made much easier by being the minority, not the majority, leader.
If he gets his wish and Republicans win control of the Senate next year, he is likely to be leading a conference even more tied to Trump’s movement than loyal to him, as my colleague Paul Kane recently explained. Many of the Republicans running for Senate seats are preaching from the MAGA scripture and would replace old guard Republicans simpatico with McConnell.
If the war in Ukraine continues to rage and Kyiv continues to rely on aid from Washington, how would a Majority Leader McConnell corral the votes he needs to assert his foreign policy worldview over Trump’s isolationist tendency?
Tough question to answer. But, for one, he would likely be dependent on Democrats for votes, which means the opposition party would want something in exchange. And if the past is any indication, McConnell generally doesn’t like to hold votes that divide his conference. So what does he do if the number of Republicans inclined to vote against something like the Ukraine aid grows bigger than the 11 McConnell was eager to declare insignificant?
In the interviews, McConnell has been dismissive of that possibility. He’s suggested that the rhetoric on the campaign trail doesn’t foretell how the candidates would vote once ensconced in the hallowed halls of the Senate.
- “You know, I’ve been here a long time, and I’ve watched a lot of campaign rhetoric that seems to disappear once you’re sworn in, and you actually are responsible for governing and confronted with the facts and reality,” he told the New York Times. “So I have a tendency not to get overexcited about what A or B may be saying in some primary somewhere in America. I think this is one of those issues where, right and wrong — it’s pretty clear.”
But McConnell hasn’t been the best judge of when or if the party’s Trump fever will break. His position has often been to lay back and hope the former president’s influence fades. It hasn’t. When he has stuck his neck out — such as when he condemned Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol after voting not to impeach him over the incident — he’s retreated when his opinion has proven unpopular in the party.
In a telling exchange, he called Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), hardly a McConnell acolyte, courageous for supporting the Ukraine aid, noting he gave a floor speech defending the decision.
- “It was an excellent speech, I thought. And since he is among our most conservative members, I thought it was courageous and correct for him to say what he did, to people who follow him carefully,” McConnell told the Times, laying on a layer of praise he doesn’t often spread for Republican senators who often prove to be a thorn in his side. “And in fact, I mentioned to him today, I thought it was really excellently crafted and an important message for someone like him to say. He’s clearly chosen a different path from another of our members who has presidential aspirations.”
But if McConnell is relying on Cruz as an ally going forward, well …
While it’s unclear what McConnell will do if his party sours on the Ukraine war, he is, for now, enjoying his moment of victory over Trump or Trumpism. There haven’t been many.
What’s happening now
Biden takes aggressive posture toward China on Asia trip
“Speaking to reporters during his first trip to Asia as president, Biden said the United States would defend Taiwan militarily if it came under attack by China — despite the U.S. policy of remaining vague on the subject — and that deterring Beijing from aggression in Taiwan and elsewhere was among the reasons it was critical to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for his “barbarism in Ukraine,” Seung Min Kim, Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Cleve R. Wootson Jr. report.
Pence appearing in Ga. to campaign against Trump-backed gubernatorial hopeful
“Former vice president Mike Pence is scheduled to appear alongside Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) at a get-out-the-vote rally Monday night, bucking former president Donald Trump, who is supporting Kemp’s challenger in the GOP gubernatorial primary, former U.S. senator David Perdue,” John Wagner and Mariana Alfaro report for Post Politics Now.
The war in Ukraine
Russian diplomat resigns protesting Putin’s ‘aggressive war’
“A diplomat at Russia’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva has resigned over the war in Ukraine, writing that he has never been ‘so ashamed’ of his country, in a rare public rebuke of the war from within the Russian government,” Emily Rauhala reports.
More key updates:
Lunchtime reads from The Post
Southern Baptist leaders covered up sex abuse, kept secret database, report says
“Leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention on Sunday released a major third-party investigation that found that sex abuse survivors were often ignored, minimized and ‘even vilified’ by top clergy in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination,” Sarah Pulliam Bailey reports.
“The findings of nearly 300 pages include shocking new details about specific abuse cases and shine a light on how denominational leaders for decades actively resisted calls for abuse prevention and reform. Evidence in the report suggests leaders also lied to Southern Baptists over whether they could maintain a database of offenders to prevent more abuse when top leaders were secretly keeping a private list for years.”
S. Korean president appears uneasy when pressed on gender inequality
“South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who had said during his recent campaign that he wanted to shut down the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, gave a halting response when pressed Saturday about how he will improve opportunities for women in his country and cabinet,” Michelle Ye Hee Lee, Seung Min Kim and Michael Kranish report.
… and beyond
McKinsey & Co. worked with Russian weapons maker even as it advised Pentagon
“Russia has fired more than 2,000 missiles on Ukraine since invading in February. The engines for many of these missiles were manufactured by a massive state-owned enterprise called Rostec, and executives for that company hired the global consulting giant McKinsey & Co. in recent years for advice,” NBC News‘s Dan De Luce and Yasmine Salam report.
“At the same time McKinsey was advising the Russian defense conglomerate, though not on any work directly involving weapons, the firm was carrying out sensitive national security contracts for the Defense Department and the U.S. intelligence community, according to an NBC News investigation.”
The hypnotherapist and failed politician who helped fuel the never-ending hunt for election fraud in Wisconsin
“Jay Stone’s training was in hypnotherapy, and he eventually walked away from Chicago politics, carving out a living using hypnosis to help people with anxiety, weight gain, nicotine addiction and other issues. Only in retirement, and after a move to Wisconsin, did he finally find his political niche,” ProPublica‘s Megan O’Matz reports.
“In 2020, Stone played a crucial, if little-known, role in making Wisconsin a hotbed of conspiracy theories that Democrats stole the state’s 10 electoral votes from then-President Donald Trump … The questioning of the legitimacy of President Joe Biden’s 20,000-vote victory in Wisconsin continues thanks to Stone and others who have emerged to take on outsize roles after the election.”
The latest on covid
Pfizer covid shot 80 percent effective in young kids, early data shows
“The results, along with other recent developments, signal that the long and frustrating wait for a vaccine for the youngest children, the last group to lack access, could be over within weeks,” Carolyn Y. Johnson reports.
The Biden agenda
Biden launches Indo-Pacific trade deal, warns over inflation
“His administration says the trade deal is designed to signal U.S. dedication to the contested economic sphere and to address the need for stability in commerce after disruptions caused by the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the Associated Press‘s Josh Boak and Aamer Madhani report.
Biden: U.S. exploring monkeypox vaccines; ‘everybody’ should be concerned
“President Biden said Sunday that the United States is looking into what vaccines might be available to protect people against monkeypox, saying that ‘everybody’ should be concerned as cases continue to spread around the world and some countries beef up their treatment stockpiles,” Annabelle Timsit and Seung Min Kim report.
More on monkeypox: Biden says quarantines for monkeypox aren’t needed in U.S.
“President Biden said Monday that he did not believe a quarantine to prevent the spread of monkeypox in the United States would be necessary, saying there are sufficient vaccine doses available to combat any serious flare-up of the disease,” Seung Min Kim reports.
From Sandy Hook to Buffalo: Ten years of failure on gun control
“In the nearly decade-long stretch between Sandy Hook and Buffalo, congressional efforts to change gun policies in any significant way have repeatedly failed, despite lawmakers occasionally commencing gun-control discussions anew in the wake of particularly harrowing gun tragedies. And Biden has played a central role in many of those unsuccessful efforts, first as vice president under Barack Obama and now as president,” Ashley Parker, Tyler Pager and Colby Itkowitz report.
Student loan debt, visualized
“Public awareness of education debt is high amid debates over loan forgiveness. Critics of broad cancellation through presidential executive order say the policy would disproportionately benefit elites, while proponents say the student loan burden is far more nuanced,” our colleagues explain how the debt shakes out.
Hot on the left
Stacey Abrams aims to recapture energy of first campaign
“For Stacey Abrams, everything is different this time. Unlike her first campaign for Georgia governor in 2018, she enters Tuesday’s primary election as the presumptive Democratic nominee, facing no competition. She’s not the relatively unknown former state representative from the first campaign, but a leading advocate for voting rights, someone credited with laying the organizational groundwork for Joe Biden to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia in 28 years,” the AP‘s Jeff Amy reports.
Hot on the right
Pence, tiptoeing away from Trump, lays groundwork for ’24 run
“After four years of service bordering on subservience, the increasingly emboldened Mr. Pence is seeking to reintroduce himself to Republican voters ahead of a potential presidential bid by setting himself apart from what many in the G.O.P. see as the worst impulses of Mr. Trump. He’s among a small group in his party considering a run in 2024 no matter what Mr. Trump decides,” the NYT‘s Jonathan Martin reports.
Today in Washington
The president is in Tokyo today.
In closing
The Post Pub is reborn
“The Post Pub’s new owner, Jeremy Wladis, is a New Yorker who wanted to give the place a second life. He wasn’t a regular at the pub. You wouldn’t have found him perched on a bar stool on a random Saturday, watching the game with a cold pint in hand. He’s too busy. He has pizzerias, taverns and neighborhood restaurants to run, in three cities, including Washington and Charlotte,” Tim Carman writes.
Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.
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