On Wednesday, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell endorsed Donald Trump for president in a drastic turnaround. McConnell declared his support in a short statement after Trump’s Super Tuesday victories, which pushed the GOP front-runner closer to the party nomination. McConnell’s statement read: “It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States. It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.”
McConnell, Trump’s onetime critic who criticized his as “morally responsible” for the “disgraceful” acts in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, has not spoken to the former president since 2020 – after he declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner of the that year’s presidential election.
The endorsement from McConnell comes after he announced last week he would step down after this term as leader, a position he has held longer than any other senator. Despite his concerns about Trump, McConnell seems to be in favor of the outcomes the former president was able to accomplish during his term, saying that he and Trump “worked together to accomplish great things for the American people.” With McConnell leading the Senate, Trump signed a GOP tax cuts package into law, and was able to have the Senate confirm three justices to the Supreme Court while fulfilling conservatives’ long-term goal of overturning Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion.
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