Sen. Mitch McConnell vows to back 2024 GOP presidential nominee even if it’s Trump

Sen. Mitch McConnell says he’ll vote for the 2024 Republican presidential nominee — even if it’s former President Donald Trump.

The powerful Senate minority leader from Kentucky blames Trump for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. But that wouldn’t stop him from pulling the lever for his archnemesis if Trump’s leading the GOP ticket next year.

“I’m going to support the nominee of our party for president, no matter who that may be,” McConnell told CNN, responding to a question about Trump’s growing strength in polls of Republican primary voters.

McConnell would need to set aside his personal animosity toward Trump to vote for the former president and also would be voting for the man he says is “practically and morally responsible” for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

He would also be pulling the lever for a man who has repeatedly hurled racist insults at McConnell’s wife Elaine Chao, who is of Chinese descent.

McConnell framed his decision as related to his hopes of retaking control of the Senate, which would likely require Republicans to flip at least two Democratic-held seats in Trump-friendly states.

“Whether you are a Trump fan or a Trump opponent, I can’t imagine Trump if he’s the nominee not doing well in West Virginia, Montana and Ohio,” McConnell said.

The establishment Republican leader blames Trump for causing the GOP to fumble a golden opportunity to win a couple of seats in the 2022 midterms by backing extremist and flawed candidates such as Herschel Walker in Georgia and Blake Masters in Nevada.

McConnell says he’s more optimistic about the 2024 vote, with top-tier candidate West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announcing a run against Sen. Joe Manchin, the most endangered Democratic incumbent.

The potential GOP fields are still up in the air in other potential pickups in states such as Montana and Ohio.

“I just spent 10 minutes explaining to you how we could screw this up,” McConnell admitted. “We’re working very hard to not let that happen. Let’s put it that way.”

McConnell said he doesn’t believe there is any chance that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona independent who caucuses with Democrats, would join the GOP.

Sinema is mulling an independent run for reelection, but she would be a serious underdog in a race against Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and a to-be-determined Republican.

McConnell bitterly attacked Trump after Jan. 6. But he stopped short of backing the effort to impeach Trump, which would have barred the former president from running for office and arguably ended his stranglehold on Republican politics.

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