Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) invited a non-Trumper to the Senate GOP's private weekly luncheon on Sept. 17, saying Republicans were more focused on defense spending than election integrity. He argued that priority should be given to
McConnell's proposal would add a six-month continuing resolution (CR) to the SAVE Act, a bill by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) to eliminate non-referendum votes in favor of Donald Trump. It scuppered House Republicans' plans to pass it.
At the meeting, Mr. McConnell invited members of the Defense Strategic Committee to submit a report supporting tax increases that would send billions of additional taxpayer dollars to the Pentagon. reported by daily signal.
Breitbart News has learned that one of the leaders McConnell brought in to address Republicans was committee vice chairman Eric Edelman, who served as deputy secretary of defense in the George Bush administration. 2020, Edelman approved Joe Biden spoke out against Donald Trump, disparaging Trump's fitness for office.
Mr. Edelman remains passionately opposed to the Republican standard-bearer. Edelman's name appeared in a letter with dozens of other national security officials on September 18, a day after he urged Republican senators to prioritize defense spending over conservative policies. . attack Supports Trump and Democratic opponent Kamala Harris.
The Sept. 17 meeting highlights Mr. McConnell's distance from the conference he has long ruled and underscores the importance of the fight to replace him.
Three candidates have made declarations so far: Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota), Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida). .
Thune and Cornyn are considered staunch disciples of McConnell. Mr. Thune is currently Mr. McConnell's chief of staff and Republican whip, a position Mr. Cornyn held until he was forced to resign due to term limits.
Mr. Scott challenged Mr. McConnell for leadership at the end of the last session. Mr. McConnell won, but Mr. Scott was the first challenger to the leadership of Mr. McConnell, who had been at the top of the Republican conference for years.
Mr. Scott's 10 votes in a race that Mr. McConnell was certain to win shows that members of Mr. McConnell's conference are increasingly motivated to stand up to Mr. McConnell regardless of the outcome. This signaled that Mr. McConnell's grip would be loosening.
In February, he spent months working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on aid to Ukraine and other priorities of President Joe Biden to unlock economic rights for tens of millions of people. After leading the effort to pass a massive pro-immigration bill and aid to Ukraine, McConnell faced increasingly serious domestic threats to his leadership. McConnell made the surprise announcement that he would resign at the end of Congress to avert a possible coup.
McConnell has used his final years as Republican leader to solidify his legacy, frequently working with Chuck Schumer and promoting Trump and his America First ideals. has been battling rising forces within the chamber that are increasingly forcing Mr. McConnell to look across the aisle to advance his cause. Priority.
These elements, which have emerged within Mr. McConnell's chambers, primarily challenge policies that Mr. McConnell has spent his career advocating.
The Pentagon has long been a spending priority for Mr. McConnell, but it has prioritized woke personnel initiatives, abortion tourism, vaccine mandates, and placed so much emphasis on its role as a lethal fighting force that it has become a mission derailment. The hiring crisis has come under increasing scrutiny. With the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Undeterred, Mr. McConnell continues to prioritize proxy wars around the world, funded by American taxpayers, even as war-weary voters turn away from military adventurism.
Mr. McConnell has undermined Mr. Trump and conservatives on the Hill, but he has become increasingly friendly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Leaders join Mr. Schumer; meet He met with Zelensky at the Capitol on Thursday, days after the Ukrainian president attacked Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), in the U.S. media. And on Sunday, President Zelensky toured an ammunition factory in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, appearing with a large group of Democratic politicians and Harris representatives, and saying he had arrived on an Air Force plane at taxpayer expense. It is being
Many Republicans were outraged by Zelensky's intervention in American politics at the expense of American taxpayers' dime. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) called on President Zelensky to fire the ambassador to the United States who arranged the visit. He declined to meet with Zelenskiy on Thursday.
Mr. McConnell remained unmoved.
With Republicans in the minority in the Senate, much of the media attention has focused on Mr. Johnson, who has struggled to establish leadership in the House Republican conference. Much ink has been spilled about Mr. Johnson's future in the House of Representatives if Republicans retain the majority.
The race to replace Mr. McConnell has received little attention, but that's exactly what Mr. McConnell wants.
Mr. McConnell has insisted that the caucus election to replace him will be held days after the November election, and wants the conference to have more time to discuss issues and direction and consider candidates. rejected the pleas of Senate conservatives (which would likely result in another candidate joining Thune's current field, Cornyn, Scott).
That strategy would benefit one of Mr. McConnell's preferred candidates.
McConnell also said holding the election soon after the Nov. 5 election would also reduce the possibility of Trump himself intervening, especially if he wins. Mr. McConnell has consistently sought to undermine Mr. Trump throughout his first administration, and Mr. Trump is certain to want a Republican Senate leader with whom he would be more likely to work.
With the Senate adjourned, Mr. McConnell's final priority will be working behind the scenes to field a friendly candidate to replace him — one who will be the Senate's ” A candidate who will continue to support institutionalism and the internationalist elements of the Republican Party, and who will fight against the internationalist elements of the Republican Party. The rise of pro-American populism in the America First movement.
The direction of the Republican Party may be in jeopardy.
Bradley Jay is Breitbart News' Capitol Hill correspondent. Follow him on X/Twitter. @BradleyAJay.
