Following his second acquittal in the Senate, Donald Trump openly lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the chamber. In the public takedown, Trump called McConnell “a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack.” The statement struck many as a strange broadside, given that McConnell voted to acquit the former president.
However, after voting to acquit Trump, McConnell took the Senate floor to issue a withering statement about the former president, denouncing his crimes and saying that the Republican Party needed to move past the Trump years. The two have had a strained relationship for months, according to those close to the two politicians.
The open infighting between two top Republicans has been a source of glee for many left-leaning commentators. Meanwhile, conservatives like Lindsay Graham have expressed dismay that the two top Republicans are at each other’s throats, openly worrying that this could bear ill for their chances of gaining back the House or Senate in the 2022 midterm elections.
