Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell still has his reservations about presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“Trump clearly needs to change, in my opinion, to win the general election,” the Kentucky Republican told NY1’s Geoff Bennett in an interview published Tuesday.
McConnell explained that he has told Trump both publicly and privately: “You’re a great entertainer. You turn on audiences. You’re good before a crowd. You have a lot of Twitter followers. That worked fine for you in the primaries. But now that you are in the general, people are looking for a level of seriousness that is typically conveyed by having a prepared text and teleprompter and staying on message.”
“So my hope is that he is beginning to pivot and become what I would call a more serious and credible candidate for the highest office in the land,” McConnell added.
When asked again if he is saying Trump “does not meet that threshold of credibility,” McConnell deferred. “He’s getting closer. Getting closer,” McConnell replied.
In a Sunday interview on ABC’s “This Week,” McConnell also refused to say Trump is qualified to be president, and said, “I’ll leave that to the American people to decide.”
In May, McConnell offered a tepid endorsement of Trump after he beat out all GOP rivals in the presidential primary. Since then, McConnell has been publicly critical of Trump, and has even said he could revoke his endorsement.
