SAUNDERS: McConnell, always playing the long game, endorses Trump

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced last week that he will step down from his Republican leadership position after the November election. The Kentucky Republican nonetheless plans to serve as a senator through the end of his term in 2027.

At age 82, McConnell offered, “One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter.”

President Joe Biden, 81, and former President Donald Trump, 77, should watch and learn.

Trump frequently has dismissed McConnell as a RINO (Republican in Name Only). That term used to be reserved for candidates deemed to be insufficiently conservative, but now the Trump base lobs it at any Republican who doesn’t go all in for the man who lost the 2020 presidential contest.

Only Trumpers haven’t fared as well in elections since Trump lost the White House. Apparently, the new GOP establishment isn’t into winning anymore.

McConnell’s most consequential moment came in 2016. After Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died suddenly, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland, the present attorney general, to fill the new court vacancy.

McConnell, then top dog in the Senate, promptly announced that the Senate would not hold hearings on Garland before the November election. It was a move that infuriated the left — and encouraged evangelical voters to turn out the vote lest Democrats take control of the nation’s top court.

Today the balance of the Supreme Court is 6-3, with a majority of justices picked by GOP presidents. For that, you can thank Mitch McConnell.

McConnell is a grown-up on foreign policy. He sees the value in funding Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression and supporting NATO.

The easier path would be to nod in agreement to Trump’s isolationist tendencies. But McConnell told The Washington Post, “On this one, I’m motivated more by what’s the right thing for America, and I’m willing to take the heat.”

As former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley suspended her presidential campaign Wednesday, she noted that Congress has too many followers and not enough leaders.

McConnell is the exception. He is a longtime practitioner of the long game — a phrase he used in the title of his 2019 memoir to describe the tenacity and planning required to win inside the beltway.

In “The Long Game: A Memoir,” McConnell credits his mother especially for instilling in him the discipline required to heal and walk after he was stricken with polio at age 2.

There’s little love between McConnell and Trump. They haven’t spoken in three years, since McConnell criticized Trump for being “practically and morally responsible for provoking” the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Approximately 335 participants have been tried and sentenced to periods of incarceration, according to the Department of Justice.

And yet, McConnell endorsed Trump on Wednesday, after Haley’s announcement.

I was disappointed because it’s apparent McConnell doesn’t think much of the former president.

But then, as I thought about it, that’s who McConnell is. He wants a Republican president. He wants the GOP to take back the Senate and control both houses. And he’ll do what it takes to win.

As McConnell told The Washington Post, “The most important number is 51. I’ve never tried to broker what kind of Republican. What I always am interested in is: Can they win?”

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.