Former President Donald Trump criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) while on a radio show Thursday, calling the Republican leader “a negative for the party.”
Trump went after McConnell’s remarks regarding Republican candidate quality for the 2022 election while speaking on the John Fredericks Show.
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“He can think that if he wants — I don’t even think he does think that — but he can think that if he wants. But he shouldn’t say it,” said Trump, referring to McConnell. “We have to put up with him for a period of time, but eventually, he’ll be gone.”
Trump continued, “He’s bad news. For him to make that statement is a disgrace to some very good people.”
McConnell publicly expressed skepticism about some GOP Senate candidates last month, saying that “candidate quality” is a problem for the Republican Party’s hopes of taking back the Senate.
“I think there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate,” McConnell said last month. “Senate races are just different. They’re statewide. Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.”
The former president also bashed the Senate GOP leader over his 2020 election results and claimed that his endorsement prevented McConnell from losing “big” in his most recent election.
“He’s such a negative for the party,” Trump said.
Trump then claimed that during McConnell’s campaign for reelection against military veteran Amy McGrath, the Senate minority leader came to him for an endorsement. The former president said he would have “run somebody against him” if he had known what he does now about McConnell’s remarks.
Trump slightly outperformed McConnell in the 2020 election, with both beating their opponents in the state by over 19 percentage points. Trump defeated President Joe Biden in Kentucky by a margin of 62% to 36%, and McConnell defeated McGrath by a margin of 57% to 38%, according to the New York Times election results.
McConnell’s seat was not seen as in danger going into the election by most analysts despite massive fundraising efforts by McConnell’s opponent.
The latest comments by Trump come after the former president has been vocal since his election defeat in 2020 over his dislike for the Senate minority leader, including calling him a “pawn for the Democrats” last week.
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Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who serves as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has also come out against Republicans who have expressed displeasure with candidate quality for the midterm elections.
The Washington Examiner reached out to McConnell’s office for comment.
