(RepublicanDaily.org) – While the selection of Republican Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as former president Donald Trump’s running mate was met with resounding cheers by the attendees of this year’s Republican National Convention, the sentiment was the opposite for Republican Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell who was universally booed and jeered at as he led the pledging of the party’s delegation from the Bluegrass State.
The 82-year-old McConnell, who announced in February that he will be resigning as the Senate leader of the GOP after the elections in November, has long been unpopular with the current crop of Trump adherents in the Republican party, after he repeatedly criticized the former president in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 riots in the Capitol, calling the attack a “disgraceful dereliction of duty” on the part of then-president Trump.
McConnell has also ostensibly lost much of his influence within the party in recent years, party due to his anti-Trump stance, as well as his support of policies – such as continued support for Ukraine – which have become unpopular with many lawmakers in the GOP. Others in the party have also accused the elderly senator of becoming out-of-touch with voters and even fellow party members. Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley said that McConnell has been “bubble-wrapped,” especially in recent years; the Missouri lawmaker said that despite McConnell still being the leader of the Senate GOP, he has not had a conversation with him for “over a year.”
“He doesn’t actually talk to or listen to voters or his members,” Hawley said.
There are also concerns about his advanced age, which critics say should prompt him to resign and allow other younger and fresher Republicans to contend and hold his seat in the Senate. Regardless, McConnell said that while he will be stepping down as the GOP leader in the Upper House, he intends to serve out the remainder of his term which will end in January 2027.
McConnell did endorse Trump – who was formally announced at the RNC as the party’s official presidential candidate – as president in March this year, and has said that the choice of Senator Vance as Trump’s running mate was a good decision.
Copyright 2024, RepublicanDaily.org
