McConnell’s health coup benefits Trump and deepens the crisis of the Republican establishment

The hospitalization of the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, after a stumble at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Washington this week, generated enormous concern in the Republican Party and precipitated a process that was underhanded until now. A public and permanent enemy of Donald Trump, McConnell has just turned 81 and is one of the most prominent exponents of the gerontocracy that governs the United States. But he is also one of the fundamental men of the partisan establishment that rejects the once again Republican presidential candidate.

In a polarizing scenario that is heading to repeat a confrontation between Trump and Joe Biden in 2024, the case of the Republican senator who leads the Republicans was not out of place and was one more among the league of leaders who does not want to retire. However, the setback that led to a concussion for which McConnell had to be hospitalized shook the Republican bloc in the Senate and generated enormous confusion among the senators who had him as their boss in the face of a doubly uncertain scenario.

The leader of the Senate challenges Trump again and escalates the conflict with the party establishment

McConnell had attended a reception at the Waldorf Astoria for the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC with which he is affiliated and played a major role in the last election with $290 million invested in the campaign. The blow to his health not only raises doubts about the future leadership of the Republican conference, but also has an impact on the internal rift in the party.

The concussion for which McConnell had to be hospitalized shook the Republican bloc in the Senate and generated enormous confusion among the senators who had him as their boss before a doubly uncertain scenario.

McConnell’s relevance is manifold. A day before his hospitalization, he had played a key role in the big Republican victory of the week, when members of his party forced Biden and the Democrats to back them in blocking the District of Columbia’s crime bill. .

In January, the Kentucky senator became the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. Since 2005, he has led the Republican conference in the Senate since 2005 and emerged unscathed from a series of key episodes such as the financial crash of 2008, the so-called fiscal cliff of 2012, the two impeachment trials of Trump and the attack on the Capitol.

McConnell fell after attending a private dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington and his staff had to call an ambulance to take him to the hospital. McConnell’s office revealed at lunchtime Thursday that he was being treated for a concussion and that he would remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment.

Although he did not rule on the case, Trump must have quietly celebrated McConnell’s downfall. The veteran senator is one of the most important adversaries that the former president has within the party.

Although he did not rule on the case, Trump must have quietly celebrated McConnell’s downfall. The veteran senator is one of the former president’s most powerful adversaries within the party: he represents the Republican orthodoxy that rejects Trump’s denialism and desperately seeks a candidate to replace him. Throughout the period leading up to the midterms last November, the crossovers between McConnell and Trump over the candidates and campaign financing were repeated. Earlier, in the fall of 2021, he had rebuffed pressure from Trump and provided 11 key Republican votes to clear Biden’s passage of the bill raising the debt limit.

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If McConnell were to step aside for any reason, it would leave a gaping void for Republicans in Parliament. There is no leader who can replace him or who is considered at his level by the different factions that coexist in the Senate. In any case, there are three names that are already circulating as eventual successors. Senate Republican Leader John Thune (SD), former Senate Republican Leader John Cornyn (Texas) of Texan, and Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, who is from Wyoming, the same district in the who was defeated in the primary by Liz Cheney.

The last time McConnell was challenged, just days after the Republicans lost in the Senate race, he defeated former Senate Republican National Committee Chairman Rick Scott 37-10.