He wouldn’t repeat the words, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday affirmed to reporters that he privately told Senate Republicans they would drop Donald Trump “like a hot rock” should he become the Republican presidential nominee.
“I don’t remember saying anything like that to all of you,” McConnell said with a smirk after a reporter asked him to confirm the comment, which according to the New York Times, was made in a private meeting with Senate Republicans.
“I don’t remember saying anything like that,” McConnell repeated, emphasizing the kicker, “to all of you.”
The comment drew guffaws from GOP leaders standing behind McConnell, but the GOP is hardly laughing about Trump, whose bombastic and sometimes insulting campaign has become an unstoppable juggernaut that is threatening to break the party into pieces as Trump racks up delegates.
In what was no doubt a coordinated move on Tuesday, GOP leaders in both the House and Senate led their weekly press conferences with a denouncement of Trump, although they never spoke his name.
Trump’s latest affront to the GOP took place on Sunday, when during a morning talk show he refused to immediately disavow the support of white supremacist David Duke.
Both McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., took aim at Trump over the interview.
“That is not the view of Republicans that have been elected to the United States Senate and I condemn his comments in a most forceful way,” McConnell said.
While the Republicans’ House majority remains relatively safe in the November election, the Senate GOP has a half-dozen seats in competitive races, threatening the majority they won in 2014.
McConnell’s comment is a signal of the GOP’s plan to have vulnerable senators run against Trump, which they believe will boost the chances they will win re-election and keep the Senate in Republican hands.
But Senate Democrats say it will be difficult for Republicans to separate themselves from Trump if he becomes the nominee.
“Every day, every Republican candidate is going to be asked, ‘do you agree with him on this, do you agree with him on that,'” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the No. 3 Senate Democrat. “They are caught between a rock and a hard place.”
At least one senator, Ben Sasse, R-Neb., is publicly denouncing Trump. Sasse wrote an long open letter declaring he would not back Trump if he becomes the nominee.
“Mr. Trump’s relentless focus is on dividing Americans, and on tearing down rather than building back up this glorious nation,” Sasse wrote in the letter, which is posted on his Facebook page.
Across the Capitol, House Republicans are working on a specific agenda that they will present to voters. They plan to invite the GOP presidential nominee to use it, but plan to run on it themselves no matter what happens.
Ryan said he has no control over who becomes the nominee or how the primary process plays out.
“I’m going to speak out on behalf of our ideas and our principles all the time, no matter what is happening in any other circumstances,” Ryan said Tuesday. “And that, to me, is what we have to offer the country. And that’s what we can control here in the House.”
